A Veela's Gateway
by GoldenShade
Summary: Everyone has their backs turned to a young Fleur Delacour who is slowly learning to control her powers. The arrival of a mysterious Quidditch player completely shifts her world. How will she cope with the repercussions of falling in love? Powerful/Independant Harry. AU!OOC!Bashing! Mentor!Snape Writing gets better as you progress.
1. Beauxbatons

**Summary: **AU! The Tri-Wizard tournament will start in Beauxbatons! Fleur is in her 5th year as she observes the delegations from Hogwarts and Durmstrang arriving. How will she react when her friends turn their backs on her over a mysterious messy-haired, green-eyed seventh year and her Veela allure development? Powerful/Independent/Ravenclaw/NotBWL/Harry. DumbleBashing. Rating WILL change. AU! H/F pairing.

**(READ THIS) Guide: **Harry's parents are alive, but he dislikes and stays away from them. His 5th year brother is the BWL. I've made Beauxbatons similar to Hogwarts in more ways than one. This was meant to be. You'll see for what reason later on in the story.

A/N: Okay, so, this chapter is mostly descriptions and filling some info for later plots, there will be more dialogue and action in the next ones.

_Prologue_

_Harry breath was cut short as he received a bludger in the stomach but miraculously didn't fall off his firebolt. The huge crowd that had massed for the World Cup yelled loudly from the massive stands as they cheered their hero onwards. He dived down and snagged the Quaffle from a Bulgarian chaser. He performed a feint to the right before turning swiftly to the left, leaving a dumbstruck opponent in his dust. He neared the Bulgarian hoops and shot precisely in the left one, scoring again and making the score 390-150, which was soon announced by Bagman as he cheered the English team on. The eldest Potter ducked right and narrowly dodged an incoming bludger, which attracted loud gasps from the crowd. He saw his two fellow chasers make a victory lap around the field which only resulted in the opponent scoring another ten points. Harry cursed under his breath and stole the Quaffle away without giving the astonished Bulgarian any time to react to the interception._

_He passed it to his blond-haired teammate and mentally rejoiced when his friend shot it straight in the middle hoop. The score was now 400-160, not exactly a tight game, but they still could not stop playing hard as the lead was still fightable. After a little inattention, these thoughts were confirmed to him as the opponents slammed the Quaffle in the left hoop twice in a row without retaliation. He literally took the Quaffle from an incoming chaser and darted towards the enemy hoops._

"_Potter takes the matter in his own hands! Go Harry!" He heard Bagman yelling enthusiastically._

_He listened to the wise words of advice as he feinted past all the chasers and threw it past the unsuspecting keeper, bringing the roar of happiness from the crowd to his ears. The score now being 410-180 in favor of the English. As he was returning the Quaffle up the pitch, he noticed Viktor Krum snagging the Snitch right under the English seeker's eyes. Harry felt a burst of anger followed by another burst of happiness as he realised that their team won! _

_He fell to the ground with his teammates and was immediately tackled by his keeper, followed by everyone else who simply layed on top of the big mountain of white quidditch robes. The crowd's roars became even louder as they praised their local team. They only got up when a referee alerted them that the trophy and medals would be handed out and that they needed to get up and stand in a straight line. Harry Potter had never been happier than he was right now. He looked up from the ground to find Cornelius Fudge bouncing up and down happily while clapping his hands and being congratulated by the smiling Bulgarian Minister whom had a hand on his shoulder and was trying to keep him from launching into space._

_Potter was handed the massive trophy under the loud clapping of the crowd and a proud minister. He waited a few dramatic seconds before lifting the cup in the air with a loud roar, while multiple camera flashes erupted from everywhere around him._

**Chapter 1: Beauxbatons**

A silvery-blond haired, blue-eyed girl was walking in the short hallways of the Beauxbatons Academy of Magic. She had just woken up a dozen minutes ago and was currently wearing the classic blue French robes which clung to her body making her curvaceous waist stand out. There was a reason she was walking alone. Ever since her Veela allure had manifested itself, her life had been filled with utter chaos. Her friends had all but backstabbed her when they started thinking that she would steal all their boyfriends away.

Since these powers were recently acquired, Fleur Delacour had trouble controlling them, making every boy or man stare at her in awe, and every girl or woman glare at her in hatred. Even if she did not have the allure, the Veela would still be considered an exceptionally beautiful teenager, which would only add to the rage of the females. She had only found solace on the Quidditch pitch, reading, or watching professional sports. Otherwise, there was not much that mused her in the school.

There was but one person who had not abandoned her, her best and only true friend Clémence Lafaye.

Even though she enjoyed Clémence's presence in private, she would try to stay away from her in public as to not affect how the others would perceive her. She simply could not drag her into this chaotic life of hers. Last year, she had a lot of friends and was a generally warm person; Fleur wondered how it could all change in the span of one single summer. As now, she was considered a cold figure in her school.

She walked into the garden which contained a lot of colorful flowers and different kinds of trees. There was a stone path that curved through the vegetation and led to the dining hall, the Quidditch pitch or the main building. Right now, she took the left which would lead to the hall, as she needed to go get some breakfast before she would start her classes of the day.

She entered the hall; it was big enough to fit the entire student body on tables, which was no small feat in itself. It also had an ancient arc ceiling with a huge diamond chandelier hanging from the middle, lighting the whole room. There were 4 tables, one from each of their houses; they had been named in honor of famous French muggles or wizards based on their qualities.

The first house was named _Wrothbard_, in tribute to the famous witch whom defeated the dark lords of ancient times, she had demonstrated just how powerful females can be and the fact that they were now equal to men was largely thanks to her. They emphasize bravery and strength. Their sigil is a bear for those very reasons.

The second house was named _Aragon_, in honor of the man who wrote many muggle books and articles. Despite popular belief, he was actually a very talented wizard and had attended the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in his young age, but had dropped out to go live in the muggle world. They harbour patience and wisdom and their sigil is a hawk.

The third house, _Dezobry_, was created in honor of a muggle; Louis Charles Dezobry. Without knowing it at first, he healed Wrothbard when she came to his house in great need after a fight with some dark wizards. He has, since then, been recognized by the wizarding world as an important figure in their history. They use boldness and perseverance as their qualities. Their sigil is a fox.

The last house was a very controversial one. It was named in the honor of a dark wizard that sacked Paris in the old days; the logic in this decision was that he did great things, terrible yes… But great. A lot of the current French ministry workers had petitioned for his name to be removed from the Beauxbatons Academy of Magic but they always refused as it was part of their ancestry. This man was called Alain _Scorpius_, he was very sneaky and ambitious in his younger days, hence his house's qualities. Their sigil is a scorpion.

Fleur walked over to her Wrothbard table which was on the extreme left of the hall. She stole a glance at the staff table and noticed that there were only a few teachers present, including the Headmistress Madame Maxime. As she sat next to some girls from her house, one of them snorted and got up, she was quickly followed by the others as the young Veela was left alone once more. Not wanting to display her sorrow, she wore a mask of ice, which only one person could see thru, and that was the Headmistress. Maxime knew of her student's condition and pitied that her friends had dropped her because of it.

Fleur sighed and began piling up some food in her plate; it was nothing like the food at her home as they usually ate very high quality food. Her father was an important ministry worker and received the appropriate salary, which meant that they owned a big mansion and ate the food of a hired chef. Those thoughts were far from her mind though. She tried to keep a blank mind so that her face would show nothing of her emotions, and so far was succeeding in doing so.

She ate until the entire school was assembled in the hall, which meant that some people were actually sitting next to Fleur as there was room for a precise amount of people at the tables.

(**AN**: For anyone interested I do speak French fluently, but for your sakes, I'll write the French dialogues in Italic and in English)

After the last staff member settled at their table, Madame Maxime stood up and started speaking "_Welcome students of Beauxbatons Academy of Magic!_" She exclaimed using her powerful voice "_This year will be a very special year_"

There was some talking and a general curiosity of what could make this year special "_We will be receiving some students from Hogwarts and Durmstrang in honor of the Tri-Wizard tournament!" _She finally finished after enjoying the torture she was inflicting upon the more curious minds.

At this, people started talking loudly about whether or not that was a good thing. It seemed that the general student body agreed that this experience would be fun and could be useful in meeting new people. Fleur herself did not think of it as good news, more people meant more people to hate or love her, depending on their gender. She honestly did not want more males staring at her or more females cursing her.

She was a little thankful when the Headmistress said that the other schools would get private sleeping quarters and wouldn't be allowed in house common rooms.

"_You will receive information regarding tournament participation when the other schools arrive" _She said in answer to the questioning glares of the older students. Fleur knew that she could not participate because of her young age; the only ones allowed to enter the competition would be seventh years.

Fleur got up and made to walk on the path to the Wrothbard common room but was stopped by two of her fellow housemates whom glared at her angrily. "_Some very important students will come from those schools to attend_" the first, dark-haired girl started"_and we don't want a stupid Veela to steal those hotties away, got it?_" she said harshly. Now that Fleur looked closer, she could see that the two girls were Alison and Helen Dufour, twin sisters. Their dark hair and mischievous grins made other people want to stay away from them most of the time.

Fleur knew that reasoning with them would be pointless, and so she just kept staring at her feet and nodded, keeping the ice mask on. The twins laughed loudly and walked away, enjoying their apparent victory. In truth, Fleur had no interest in going after the boys from the other schools, the first quality a Veela wanted in a mate was the ability to resist their allure. She had yet to meet anyone, aside from her father, who could resist it for more than a minute.

She walked up the steps of the Wrothbard tower and gave the password to the portrait which opened itself and revealed the common room.

If there was one thing positive about the school, it was that she felt at home in this common room. It had a big red and gold bear portrait in the middle with two large staircases leading up to the dormitories. There were three stone fireplaces to warm the students during winter, one under the bear portrait and one on each side of the room. There also were numerous tables, chairs and couches in front of the fireplaces. Several other red and gold decorations boarded the room's walls.

As she entered, she noticed that the conversations became quiet, which made her eyes tear up a little but she still tried to hide it, without much success as she ran upstairs to her dormitory.

Of course she had talked to her mother about the Veela allure, but all she had said was that she would need to get used to it since there was no stopping it. Once experienced enough she could limit the amount directed outwards, but that was not for a long time and it would take a lot of practice to get it right.

She dropped on her bed and squealed out a few muffled yells from her pillow while dropping several tears. The Veela quickly wiped them off and looked over to her trunk. On top of it were two magazines, one was Quidditch weekly and the other, Teen Witch Weekly. The first one had a picture of a sweaty, messy-haired and green-eyed boy holding a trophy above his head. He slowly turned his head and smiled dashingly at her. "_So handsome"_ she whispered while caressing the picture. Above the man, in big letters was written "Harry Potter wins the World Cup for England!" She did love Quidditch, being a chaser for her house's team had been very hard to achieve, especially with everyone hating her, it was the first time in ages that a house team was all-female.

Fleur remembered the last summer as she was in the top box with the minister of magic, watching the World Cup. She had yelled at the top of her lungs when Harry Potter had scored a magnificent goal which would most likely go down in history. A few minutes later, the Bulgarian chaser had caught the snitch but it wasn't enough to catch up to the colossal lead that Potter had set up. The final score was 410-330 in favor of England, her idol scoring more than half of their points. She then turned her head to look down on the Teen Witch Weekly magazine.

On that cover was the same man and the same picture. The only difference was the text which read "Harry Potter, the Perfect Man!" she truly despised gossip magazines such as this one and was only subscribed due to her sister who had won a free year worth of magazines for a relative, and she had naturally chosen Fleur. Nonetheless, she enjoyed seeing Harry Potter pictures; he seemed quite charming and nice in general, but there was something sad about him. She then swiped her hand in the air, wiping her thoughts from Potter as she knew that she would never meet him, he was a star and she was not, nothing simpler.

"_Quite dashing isn't he?_" she heard from a bed nearby.

She turned her head and noticed a slim girl with curly brown hair sitting up on her bed. She too was wearing the school robes. Fleur immediately recognized Clémence. The words she had spoken caught up to her thoughts and she blushed lightly. Her friend saw this and giggled loudly before standing up, quickly walking to her side and sitting on Fleur's bed.

"_I guess so_" she answered and flashed a knowing smile which exposed perfectly white teeth.

"_Teen Witch is going crazy over him; he's on the front page every week!" _Clémence said while still smiling.

"_How so?_" Fleur asked with a questioning look. Even the most famous of men wouldn't make it for more than a week on the front page of this popular magazine, why would this boy be any different? It didn't seem right to her.

"_Well, apparently, Harry Potter is friends with the daughter of the founders of the magazine, and this girl clearly wants to be a little more than friends with him_" She took Fleur's hand into her own and caressed it quietly, knowing perfectly that her friend was distraught by the hate she was receiving from the students, despite her having a not-so-effective ice mask.

Noticing this kind gesture, Fleur took the initiative to hug her only friend with as much strength as she could possibly muster "_I can't tell you just how much you mean to me Clémence.._"

Having trouble breathing, Clémence tried releasing the hug but Fleur just wouldn't have any of it, she kept holding on. So she decided to talk despite the lack of air "_You don't need to Fleur, I know this isn't your fault, I'll be here for you, always_"

She didn't get an answer, the only hint that Fleur has understood was that her grip around her friend became tighter which made Clémence gasp for air "_Fleur, air_" she was then let go and took a deep breath, satisfying her lungs "You're coming to Quidditch practice tonight right?"

"_I wouldn't miss it for anything else in the world_" She answered with the first happy smile she made in weeks. Suddenly, her friend had a mischievous grin on her face, which led to her looking back questioningly.

"_Not even for a meeting with Harry Potter?" _Clémence asked teasingly.

The Delacour heiress simply hit her friend's shoulder playfully while Clémence made a show of being hurt before bursting out laughing and hugging Fleur like she did so many times before when she was in need of comforting, except this time, it was all about fun and laughter.

The day passed slowly for Fleur, the classes seemed to last twice as long as they usually did, and she simply couldn't remember everything she learnt today, her mind was too far away from the class to capture it all. She was thinking about the hate everyone in the class had for her and how she couldn't do anything to stop it. She did have a few brighter thoughts, mostly being of the upcoming Quidditch practice.

Just as she was about to lose hope for class to ever finish, the students got up to leave. She mentally squeaked in happiness before joining them in leaving the classroom.

She arrived at the Quidditch Pitch locker rooms and quickly got changed into her specially made practice robes. If there was one thing that made her happy, it was sports; she could just forget about anything going wrong in her life and enjoy a quiet evening while exercising.

The other girls quickly arrived, some of them loathed Fleur, but she was on okay terms with the majority. The captain of their team and seeker, Angélica Labonté, was especially nice to her, often telling the meaner members of the team to shut up when they were insulting, or insinuating things about Fleur. Other chasers included Clémence and another 4th year girl that she didn't know the name of. The beaters, Alison and Helen Dufour, 5th years, were the ones that usually picked on her. Even though they lacked the strength to send the bludgers flying quickly, they could make them hit quite precisely, which was a disadvantage for Fleur. All things considered, it wasn't too bad of a price to pay to play her favorite sport.

They all kicked off at the same time while Angélica went to retrieve the snitch, Quaffle and release the bludgers. They were going to have the Dufour twins try and hit the chasers as they try and score with the keeper in front of the hoops. It was a basic practice drill as far as Fleur was concerned; she had done it multiple times before. The 4th year chaser seemed nervous though. The Veela stopped next to her in mid-air.

"_What's wrong?_" She asked with a hint of worry in her musical voice.

The girl seemed to hesitate at first but seemed to lighten up as she decided to talk "_It's my first year on the team and I've never been chased, nor hit by a bludger_" Fleur let out a quick giggle which was met by a scowl from the girl.

"_Sorry, it's just that I was in your shoes a year ago_" she said and smiled.

The girl handed out a hand to her "_Maryse Gagnon_"

Fleur happily took the hand and shook it lightly "_Fleur Delacour_" she said with a wide smile. Her silvery-blond hair was waving behind her head as the wind had suddenly picked up the pace, which would make the exercise a lot harder.

Maryse and Fleur were then flung apart as a bludger raced between them narrowly missing their hands. They both looked around angrily until they spotted Helen with her trademark mischievous grin on her face. After a look from Maryse, Fleur decided to let it slide and get back at her on the pitch.

Fleur dropped to the ground and held her broom to her side, all-in-all, it had been a good practice; she had pushed herself to the limit and was quite proud of it. She walked to the locker rooms and proceeded to changing.

Helen and Alison came in first and threw her neutral glares "_Good job out there Veela_" the first said with a smirk to her sister.

"_Don't call me that!_" Fleur hissed menacingly as she removed her robe.

Alison looked at her with a grin and hung her robe off the locker "_I like to call a spade a spade_" she retorted with a look to her twin while Helen laughed.

"_Are you comparing me to a Spade?" _the Veela answered, anger showing in her baby blue eyes.

"_No my dear, I can give you some credit, you're a little prettier than a spade_" She paused and made a show of thinking "_Well, now that I think about it, a spade would be better_" she said, her mischievous smile becoming broader as she saw the frustration in Fleur's eyes.

At that moment Angélica walked in and scowled at the twins telling them to let her breath for a second. She was closely followed by Maryse and the others, whom glared daggers at the sisters.

Both of them seemed to adopt a friendlier nature all of a sudden and started talking about the schools that were to arrive tomorrow "_You know what Angie? I've heard Viktor Krum will be coming with the Durmstrang delegation!_" Helen said excitedly, a genuine smile on her face for once "_He's rich, hot AND famous, what's not to like?_" she finished.

Fleur simply rolled her eyes; Krum was seeker with the Bulgarian team in the World Cup and had lost to Harry Potter's English team. Feeling adventurous, she decided to jump in on the conversation "_Yes, but there actually is someone better than Krum_" She said with an arrogant smirk.

The twins simply glared at her "_Oh? And who might that be?_" they both said in unison.

Knowing what the answer was, Maryse completed Fleur's first statement "_Harry Potter of course_" she said while hanging her wrist guards on the shelves with her name marked on it.

The sisters immediately settled down and looked peaceful for a second, although there was a hint of greed in their eyes "_Well duh. He's just the best chaser who EVER LIVED!"_ they screamed at the top of their lungs in a fan-girl fashion. Harry Potter was actually one of the best, but the popular opinion on why he wasn't considered the best was because he was still so young at seventeen years old.

This time, the whole team erupted in loud laughter, Angélica's knees even buckled and she fell to the ground laughing too hard to get up. It was astonishing to see the cold sisters talking like children over their favorite super hero.

After the twins recovered, Alison spoke up "_The problem is, everything revolving around Harry Potter is a mystery, nobody knows anything about his life, the school he goes to, the friends he's got, if he's in a relationship, how he got SO BLOODY HOT?_" she finished with an extremely amused grin towards Fleur who returned it happily "_All we do know is that his brother is the Boy-Who-Lived… But honestly, who the hell cares?_" She said with another look to Fleur. It seemed that she and the twins had found a common interest.

Angélica looked up from her position on the floor and said "_Nobody, Aidan Potter's just being praised for something he had no control over_" she said, spasms of laughter still troubling her.

Clémence quickly jumped in the conversation "_Yeah, the only reason he's this famous is because of the corrupted English media, unlike Harry who actually earned his glory_" she said with a snort of disgust.

"_Honestly girls, who would even look at Aidan when there's his hottie of a brother next to him?_" Angélica said with a seductive grin. The whole team nodded at this statement.

"Too true Mrs. Captain ma'am!" Maryse said with a playful laugh while grabbing her stuff and stuffing it all in her sports bag in an unorganized way. Fleur noticed that all of the girls in the room just put everything in their bags without organization whatsoever, while she organized it neatly.

Once everybody had left, save her and Clémence, they went up the road to the main building; it was decorated with numerous colorful flowers such as roses and lavender, the path itself was made of different shades of stone and granite "_Seems like you're going to get along with the twins a little now eh?_" Clémence asked.

"_I hope so; I was getting tired of their non-stop insulting_" Fleur answered, looking down at her feet and kept on walking.

"_Hopefully it only gets better from here."_ Her quidditch teammate prayed. Fleur only nodded in acceptance as both of them walked on in a comfortable silence.

They arrived in the common room and swiftly climed the steps to the Wrothbard girl's dormitory. They each put down their bags next to their beds and entered the washrooms to brush their teeth.

Through her clenched teeth, Fleur started speaking "You know Clémence, I'm really grateful for staying my friend this year… I don't think I would have pulled through without you." She said sadly, while tears started massing up in the corners of her eyes.

Noticing this, Clémence immediately pulled her in a bone-crushing hug. No words were needed as the hug brought a smile back to Fleur's lips.

After settling in their beds, "Hey, tomorrow Durmstrang and Hogwarts will arrive" Clémence said in a whisper as to not wake the other girls sleeping in their beds. Fleur merely smiled and nodded, this year promised to be quite interesting.

**AN: R&R! Constructive criticism always wanted! I'm also looking for suggestions, so if you have any ideas regarding the story, review or send me a PM. In the next chapter, there will be less gossip, more action. The Hogwarts and Durmstrang students will soon arrive! **

**Until next time,**

**GoldenShade**


	2. The Schools

**A/N: Sorry for the lack of dialogues/socializing on Fleur's part but it was kind of hard to incorporate that while still portraying her as cold. **

Chapter 2: Hogwarts & Durmstrang

The beautiful Fleur Delacour slowly woke up to a bright sun ray which collided with her eyes. She lifted herself up slightly and stretched like a cat, hearing a few bones crack as she did. The Veela let out a long sigh of contempt and got up to take a nice hot shower before she would go down to eat breakfast in the dining hall. Today was the day the champions would arrive! She honestly could not wait to see who the three champions would be, despite what she let people think. Krum would be a champion, that much was a given, but she could not recall of anybody she knew going to Hogwarts, so she had no idea of who would be a good guess. For the Beauxbatons champion, Fleur suspected Angélica would be picked as she was a very powerful witch and incredibly athletic. She would just need to wait a few more hours until her curiosity regarding Hogwarts would be satisfied.

The schools were scheduled to arrive at two o'clock, which left plenty of time for Fleur to enjoy her Saturday morning. She had been thinking of reading the Teen Witch Weekly interview of Harry Potter which apparently had some interesting information regarding his sport life, but his refusal to discuss his personal life had left the editors dumbstruck, even when they promised him riches. Fleur couldn't help but smile at this in the shower, most people would gracefully accept any questions that this magazine would ask them, even embarrassing ones if they would give them money or fame. Meanwhile, Harry Potter had refused the offer, which only proved that he wasn't like most people.

She cleaned up and dried off. It wasn't long before she descended down to the dining hall where she spotted Maryse and Clémence eating at the front of the table. She went down the alley and gracefully sat close to her friends.

"_Good morning there Fleur_" Maryse said with a kind smile while adding more food on her plate. Clémence repeated the kind gesture and turned her attention back to her already stashed plate.

Fleur merely answered with a polite nod and a "_You too_" that was whispered so quietly that she doubted they had heard anything. Well if they did they certainly didn't do anything to show it.

When she estimated was half the breakfast time, Madame Maxime stood from her astonishing height "_Students! Today is quite special as the schools of Hogwarts and Durmstrang will be arriving at two o'clock!" _She paused and seemed to be examining the Aragon and Scorpius house tables. A quite disapproving expression sneaked its way on her face "_And I expect all of you to be dressed in your finest robes for when they arrive! We want to make a good first impression, correct?"_ She finished with a questioning glance towards the students in general.

Numerous "_Yes Madame Maxime_" could be heard in the hall. Fleur giggled as she remembered when she was required to respond in such a way. It had been three years since.

"_Now, as you know, we have some very important or famous foreign students coming to assist, or participate in the Tri-Wizard tournament. I know that a lot of you will try and get closer to these exceptional people. I ask that you do it in a fashionable way and to leave them some time to get settled in._" She added on a more serious note. It was true, Fleur thought. If someone ran up to her and tried to seduce her all of a sudden, it would seem quite creepy and she would not like to remain in that location.

She heard a curse from the twins who had sat a few seats from her and couldn't help but smile quietly, which brought a questioning look from Clémence. She just shrugged and turned back towards Madame Maxime.

"_Now, I wish you a nice morning but remember that attendance to the arrival at two is required_" At that, a good number of students got up and proceeded to leave the hall. Fleur determined to go get the Teen Witch magazine from her common room and go down to the lake to read in peace.

The lake wasn't very far, but it was huge. Were you to run around the edge, you would end up running for several miles before you would get back at the school. It was surrounded by trees, various flowers and other vegetation, an especially dense line of trees was between her and the beach. A slow, relaxing sound made its way to her ears as gentle waves hit the banks. Fleur set her back against the nearby blue brick wall from the main Beauxbatons building and enjoyed the fact that there was only a few clouds out, which meant more sun for her. Its closeness to the lake made it the ideal place to rest and enjoy a nice view. She pulled up her magazine and quickly flipped the pages until she reached the one with the Harry Potter interview on it.

_An Interview with Harry Potter, the Quidditch Superstar!_

_By: Romilda Vane_

_V: Vane_

_P: Potter_

_V: In one word, how would you describe your team?_

_P: United._

_V: Who in your opinion is the worst player amongst your teammates?_

_P: None, we rely on each other to be the best._

_V: What are your current objectives regarding your sports career?_

_P: I'm hoping to be signed with a European Cup contender soon. Although I still lack any official offers._

_V: Anything regarding your duelling career?_

_P: I'll be participating in the European Duelling Championships next summer. I'm also going somewhere that could be of interest to you, but I'll leave it at that for now._

_V: Mr. Potter, why is it that you are so mysterious?_

_P: I'm here to discuss my sports career, not my personal life._

_V: Well thank you for your time, hopefully we can do this again sometime._

_Here at Teen Witch Weekly, we wish all the best for Mr. Potter and his next endeavor, whatever it may be. We also hope that he will triumph in the European Cup and his duelling tournaments! _

_Until next time folks,_

_Romilda Vane_

Fleur lifted her eyes from the magazine and stared in the horizon, examining the edges of the lake. That was a relatively short interview, something told her that Harry Potter had put a premature end to it after the interviewer had started going into the personal questions. Starting off with topic-related questions and then moving on to personal questions was a popular tactic to use amongst reporters. It seemed that the Quidditch prodigy had seen right through it though. She smiled sadly; she wished that she could meet him. He seemed like someone worth talking to; after all, he had reached eternal glory in a few months and yet kept his feet down on earth, which was quite impressive. Yet, she knew that she would likely never see him outside the important games that her father was invited to.

The Delacour heiress was contempt by simply looking at the horizon, enjoying the sun as it brought warmth to her face while watching the water sparkle from the sun's reflection.

Time flew by. She remained in her comfortable position, occasionally shifting to keep the sun shining on her skin. As she looked up to the bright fireball in the sky, she could tell that it was around one o'clock by now. She had taken lessons on reading the time using the sun's position from her father in the summer. She reluctantly stood and started walking towards the dining hall; she hoped to eat a little something, despite her being terribly late for lunch.

As she walked in, she was stopped by two black-haired youths "_You know, despite you being decent and all, we meant what we said when we told you that we didn't want a Veela stealing the guys, alright?_" Alison Dufour said seriously.

Fleur was stunned; she thought that this issue was behind them as they had found common interest in a certain sports legend. It seemed that she had been wrong as an unknown boy stood between them yet again. She sighed and gently pushed Helen aside, allowing herself to proceed into the dining hall. In truth, she felt like dropping down and crying, but in reality, her Ice Queen mask prevented her from doing so. She was grateful for it too; breaking down in the middle of the hall couldn't be good for reputation. Her eyes looked up to the diamond chandelier hanging from the arc ceiling so that she could dry off a small tear that was forming without anyone noticing.

She settled down in her usual spot in the Wrothbard table and started filling her plate with leftovers, looking as cold as she had been in the past.

By the time she was done, it was almost time for her to go down and greet the arriving schools. She left the hall and exited the school using the main gate. They would be greeting them in a large clearing in front of the lake. The land was free of any kind of tree, but it was rather over-supplied in tall grass. The sky was starting to overflow with grey or black clouds, announcing some rain or lightning to come. As she looked upon the designated area, she noticed the abundance of students that had already arrived, all in flashy blue robes and matching hats.

Madame Maxime and the teachers stood out as they were all dressed in fancy black furs. Fleur made her way next to Clémence and Maryse as they stood on the outer edge of the massive student circle. Being in this spot meant that they would be the first to see who was coming, depending on what angle the school's transports arrived on.

"_When do you think they will arrive?_" Maryse asked her two years older friends. Both simply shrugged unknowingly.

"_Anytime now._" Fleur answered, trying to keep her face as emotionless as possible.

It seemed that most students were interested in the arriving as she realized the volume of the talking that was going on. It felt louder than it was in the dining hall during the busy hours, perhaps due to the fact that the students had a pressing topic to discuss.

All of a sudden, the entire school turned perfectly quiet. Fleur looked around, trying to figure out why the students had stopped gossiping so suddenly. She found her answer in the lake, as she saw massive bubbles erupting from the depts while massive waves hit the sandy banks. Moments later, a mast with clear-white sails appeared, making younger students gasp with their mouths opened. Slowly, the ship itself same into view. It seemed quite robust, as if every plank had been placed for a reason while powerful candles brightly lit the windows from the inside. The front of the boat was easily recognizable, a silver ram, the sigil of Durmstrang, was spotted by the students.

The professors quickly conjured a cement dock for the boat to stop to. Dramatically, a boarding plank made its way down.

A single small, yet imposing man came off the boat and walked towards Madame Maxime, who stood at the edge of the dock "Hello Igor, welcome to Beauxbatons Academy of Magic" she said in English.

The man smiled oddly at her and caressed his short black beard "Well it certainly does not outshine my fair Durmstrang, but it will do" he drawled, and followed it up with an arrogant smirk. If the Headmistress was surprised at the lack of manners of this Igor, she certainly didn't show it as she deliberately ignored his comment.

"Where are your pupils, Igor?" She asked while watching the boarding plank which remained empty.

Igor Karkaroff merely smiled at her before curving his fingers into his mouth and whistling loudly. Immediately, a somewhat large host of Durmstrang students flowed out of the boat using the plank. They were all wearing blood –red robes with slightly furry shoulder padding, an obvious attempt at intimidation. They stopped in two straight columns on the cement dock.

The Beauxbatons students looked around nervously, not knowing what they were waiting for until they heard a loud yell "KRUM!" the Bulgarians yelled in unison, startling some students and a few professors. They started pounding their muscular fists on their chests, creating a repetitive beat.

Most people looked on in interest as they heard the name of their favorite seeker. A pair of furry boots hit the floor of the dock; the man wearing them was impressive, if nothing else. He wore the traditional Durmstrang red robes, but had a more pronounced shoulder padding, which made the figure of Viktor Krum all the more imposing. As he walked in between his classmates, he started pounding his own chest. The now-complete set of students now yelled, "DURMSTRANG!" Karkaroff twisted his head in a proud smile towards the Headmistress of Beauxbatons.

There were numerous reasons to be afraid of the Durmstrang delegation. For one, they actually learned dark arts in their school, making them deadly when duelling a lesser-wizard. They also followed an extensive training program, forcing them to endure things that typical human beings would never see or hear of in their entire life.

After a few moments, the pounding stopped and Krum led his fellow students to his Headmaster's side, "Igor, will you meet Albus or would you want to go inside and warm up?" Madame Maxime asked politely, despite the lack of respect the man showed for her earlier.

To all of their surprise, it was not Karkaroff who answered, "Ve vill vait for the Hogvarts delegation" answered a mild Bulgarian accent. His words held power to his mates as Karkaroff looked at his star pupil and nodded quietly before releasing the tension in his shoulders by letting out a sigh.

The northern school settled besides the unorganized mass of Beauxbatons students, after seeing how well Durmstrang was organized, most local pupils started forming several columns, as to try and impress the next school which would be Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Around fifteen minutes passed without the northerners uttering a single word, they were simply staring at the horizon, unblinking. This only caused further unease for the Frenchmen and women which were already a little confused by their rival's entry.

Igor Karkaroff turned towards the Beauxbatons mass and announced in an emotionless voice, "Hogwarts arrives," he gently smiled at Madame Maxime, "You might want to move your students towards the high ground" he continued as his students started moving towards the high balconies near the entry to the Beauxbatons grounds.

With a confused look, Maxime ordered the teachers to follow Karkaroff's counsel as they started following the path led by the red-robed students.

The balconies were easily spottable from the bottom of the road leading up to them as they were of beige stone color with massive vine-covered pillars supporting them from the ground up. The northerners settled in the one farthest from the main gate while the blue-robed students took place in every single remaining ones, barely fitting.

As Fleur took place in the balcony next to the Durmstrang one, she caught most northern boys looking at her with greedy expressions; even Krum had a look in his eyes which gave away his emotions. They remained fixated on her until Karkaroff, which was an occlumency master, slapped each of them on the back of the head. They seemed confused for a second before understanding came to them.

The Veela did not even give them a look. She just kept looking at the area that they had been waiting at around five minutes ago. The sun was now completely gone and was replaced by dangerously dark clouds, making the world seem terribly grim as the color faded from the vegetation. Only then did Fleur notice that nobody was talking, perfect silence reigned, only betrayed by the wind whistling in her ears.

She was leaning on the fence boarding the balcony when she noticed a slight trembling in it _The ground is shaking _she thought before turning to her fellow classmates and yelling it out loud "_The ground is shaking!_"

A few younger students yelled in panic and tried piercing the human wall that had formed between them and the warmth of their dormitories. Fleur merely looked on interestingly as the shaking became more pronounced, causing her own feet to feel the unease in the ground.

"_The hell is going on?!"_ Clémence asked from behind her.

Fleur turned and looked towards her best friend "_It's them, they're almost here_" she replied with an apprehensive smile.

As she turned back, she noticed a big circle of rocks bouncing up and down where they had been standing while waiting for Durmstrang. The earthquake hit its power peak as Fleur saw some first years stumble to the ground under the force of the shake. Most people stood, but were quite misbalanced by this odd factor.

The ground of the clearing suddenly collapsed with a large _Thud! _Sound as the rocky surface hit the bottom of the hole it was now in.

"_Holy crap!" _Maryse yelled as she observed the breath-taking sight.

Then, the most unnatural thing came out of the ground. First, all they could see was a huge silver-colored metal drill. As it came out with loud buzzy noises, she saw it. The Hogwarts transport was huge, towering above the Durmstrang ship by a least a dozen feet. She saw the square living quarters which were also mounted on large continuous tracks, as a tank would be mounted. It seemed to be built out of pure steel, but painted in a nice dark color. Numerous huge bolts could be seen poking out of the behemoth as it left the hole and settled a few feet next to it.

There were some windows, in which Fleur saw some light appearing, and then fading, and then back. The students were moving from within. The drill-tank finally pulled to a stop as the students realized what they were looking at and immediately started gasping and screaming impressively. Building something this big was not an easy task in any way.

A small door opened from the side pointing towards the school and a boarding plank very similar to the one used by Durmstrang came down to the ground.

Madame Maxime gestured for the students to follow her as she started walking back down towards the Hogwarts delegation which were her guests by every law and rule in the wizarding world.

"_They sure know how to make a flashy entrance_!" ranted Clémence as she and Maryse walked up to Fleur's side. Being a nature-lover, she did not like the fact that Hogwarts had just taken out a big portion of the tall grass that usually filled this area.

"_I'm sure that will get fixed, for now let's just go meet the Englishmen_" Maryse said while grinning slyly.

Both she and Clémence nodded at that "_Hopefully, there's a few good ones in there_" Angélica said as she joined them.

The quartet giggled and looked on towards the massive drill where they could see an old white-bearded man standing with his wand out "_That's Albus Dumbledore!" _Maryse nearly screamed into Clémence's ears who grunted in complaint.

"_Who's that_?" Fleur asked.

"_It's the man in front of you dummy_" Her friend answered with a playful smirk.

"_Oh sure, I mean why he's special" _she replied with an awkwardly muffled giggle.

"_He's supreme mugwump of the ICW, chief warlock of the British Wizengamot and holder of the order of Merlin, first class_" Maryse answered with a sparkle of admiration in her eyes.

"_Sounds like someone's quite the fan-girl_!" Angélica said and laughed loudly at her friend's angry look.

"_I just admire him, okay?"_ she replied through her clenched teeth. Her opponent lifted her hands in the air in defeat.

"_Hey now I didn't say anything about a crush_!"

Maryse rolled her eyes and brought them back upon the bearded figure, this Albus Dumbledore seemed to be quite a powerful wizard. As the mass of students came to a stop, the man twisted his wand and the hole, well, it was gone. The terrain was back to what it had looked like a few minutes ago. The Hogwarts headmaster disembarked.

"My apologies for the terrain Madame Maxime" he said in English as he brushed his lips against the knuckles of her headmistress who had lifted her hand towards the man.

"'Eet is nothing my dear Dumbee'dore" She replied in a strong French accent. Fleur wondered how such a difference between two persons was possible. Karkaroff was arrogant and proud while Dumbledore was polite and humble.

"Ah yes, now let me introduce you to my students!" He said with a confident smile, bringing a roar of gossip coming from the students but they were quickly silenced by a glare from their Headmistress.

A wave of students ranging from fifth year to seventh year started disembarking from the drill; most of the guys stared at her, but were soon brought back to reality when a Hogwarts girl spotted them acting oddly. They were all wearing black robes with different insignias on their left torso area. She could see multiple lions, snakes and other animals as they walked down in a disorganized fashion, teasing and playing with each other.

After this odd little show Fleur wondered how Dumbledore's proud smile persisted, but she guessed it was just what made Hogwarts' charm. A few students stood out from the rest, one which had a queer smile of his face had his arm held by a cute Asian girl with dark eyes. Another had odd blue eyes and an arrogant, yet confident and charming smirk, but there was one that caught the attention of the blue-robed students more than every other.

This boy had a roaring lion on his torso and had flat black hair hiding a lightning-shaped scar. His brown eyes seemed nonchalant behind those ridiculous circular glasses. Normally, such features would not attract the attention of many women, but there was something special about this boy, he was the Boy-Who-Lived, Aidan Potter.

"It's the Boy-Who-Lived!" Fleur heard someone screaming from behind her. The boy in question stopped next to Dumbledore, smirked a smile that seemed to say I'm-Better-Than-You-Will-Ever-Be and bowed in a way that made the Veela want to vomit, the urge only got stronger when the boy looked her way and winked.

Dumbledore simply laughed quietly before addressing the boy "Aidan, where is your brother?" Some students gasped in disbelief. The youngest Potter simply snorted and walked to the back of the line of Hogwarts students.

A silhouette appeared in the door of the drill, attracting loud screams of amazement. Fleur looked around and saw that most girls were looking at the man open-mouthed.

He was wearing his black robe, except his had a blue eagle instead of the lion his brother had. They seemed to hug his body perfectly, showing just how well-toned his muscles were. Broad shoulders, piercing green eyes and messy jet-black hair. All in all, he was hot. Most girls seemed to realize this as they started screaming in a very high-pitched fan-girly way, making the man grunt in annoyance.

As Fleur examined him closely, her knees nearly buckled. Right there, standing right in front of her, was the boy she had spent countless hours admiring in the magazines she was subscribed to. Right here, standing right in front of her, stood Harry Potter, the Quidditch superstar. Her mouth dropped open as she tried mentally slapping herself to no result. She simply stood there, knees trembling and mouth wide open.

"_Hole…Lee… Crap!_" was all she could say before looking around towards Maryse and the girls who all seemed to be having a similar reaction that she was.

The man had walked down to the ground by now; obviously annoyed at the staring he was receiving. _Gosh he's even sexy when he walks… _Fleur thought. Well there was something about the way he advanced that made the girls drool. He seemed Confident. Proud. Dominant. He walked towards Dumbledore and exchanged a few words in a small whisper, making the older man nod in denial. Harry Potter's shoulders slumped as a frown crept his way to his face. Until he spotted a certain Quidditch player wearing blood-red robes.

The rivalry between Viktor Krum and Harry Potter was legendary, and vicious. When they met in the pitch, both of them held nothing back and used anything at their disposal to win. "_Someone needs to intervene; they're going to tear each other's heads off!_" Fleur yelled towards her friends who were still dazed by the sudden appearance of their favorite chaser. That seemed to be the general feeling as most girls were still yelling uncontrollably.

All that noise suddenly died down when Harry Potter stopped right in front of Viktor Krum with Karkaroff next to him, a worried look on his face. Both Quidditch players had unreadable facial expressions on their faces as they stared straight into the other's eyes. Potter suddenly held out a hand towards Krum who quickly took it and shaked before engaging in a bro-hug. Fleur's eyes widened once again at the sight before her.

It took a while for the Headmasters to control the student population, but they all followed Harry Potter towards the dining hall. The other schools waited outside the door while the local students entered and sat at their respectable table. Once everyone was seated comfortably, the Beauxbatons staff did the same and moved towards the long table. Surprising everyone, the Hogwarts and Durmstrang delegations entered the hall without an authorisation from their headmasters.

After adding a fair length to each table, Madame Maxime informed them "Zhe Hogwarts students may sit with Aragon or Wrothbard while Zurmstrang may sit with Scorpius or Dezobry"

"Excuse me Headmistress," everyone turned horrified at who would dare to talk back on Madame Maxime. Although, there was no arrogance in his voice, it was filled with respect and neutrality. Harry Potter continued, "Would it be possible for us to sit with Durmstrang students as well? I need to catch up with some friends" He said with a look towards Viktor Krum.

"If zat is what you wish" Maxime said with a smile.

The star nodded in thanks and made a short hand gesture towards his classmates, instructing them to go sit in Worthbard and Aragon tables while he turned right and sat in the Scorpius table next to some girl to his right that looked like she was going to have a heart-attack. Krum and some other red wizard sat in front of Harry while some Hogwarts student sat to his left.

From her seat in Wrothbard, Fleur couldn't help but feel disappointed that Harry Potter was not sitting on her table, but figured that there were still many meals for them to meet up. In front of her sat Angélica while Clémence and Maryse sat to her sides.

"_Can you believe it?!" _Angélica started, "_Harry Potter, the Quidditch Legend, in our school, sitting a few tables away!_"

"_I know! He's so hot_!" said Helen Dufour as she and her twin sister sat on either side of Angélica.

Fleur giggled "_You're all pathetic_" she said playfully.

"_Says the one with the allure to help her out_!" Clémence said with a smirk.

Only after her best friend had mentioned it, understanding finally dawned on her. Harry Potter had not even looked at her since he had arrived, and most men would at least pause for a second or two to stare before they moved on to their daily activities. The superstar had not even noticed her yet. She did not know if she should feel offended or extremely happy that someone could resist her allure.

Noticing her obvious discomfort, Clémence said, "_I'm sorry I didn't mean it like that…"_ Fleur shaked her head before turning to her friend again.

"_No, no it's just that… Well Potter was immune to my allure_" She said with a dangerously wide smile.

The twins looked surprised and pleased at the same time "_Does that mean you're going to compete?" _they said cryptically.

"_Compete in what? The Tri-Wizard tournament_?" Fleur asked.

"_No, the war for Harry Potter_" Alison replied with a smirk.

"_Well if it's going to turn into a war then I'm not sure I want to participate_" The Veela said with a sad smile.

"_Look around you, every single girl in the hall is looking at him dreamily; of course it's a war_!" Maryse shouted with a growing grin.

"_Honestly Fleur, you finally find someone that can resist your allure and you talk about giving up? I thought your Veela instincts prevented that!_" Angélica humored.

Despite the unserious tone used by Angélica, Fleur realised that she was right. She couldn't drop off because of a little competition; she could at least try and get to know him before deciding on something.

"Attention students!" Madame Maxime yelled in English, attracting an immediate attentive silence "As you know, the reason you are here today is the Tri-Wizard Tournament. This," She pointed towards a large cup that had appeared in front of the staff table, it had brightly colored flames erupting out of it.

"…Is the Goblet of Fire."

- The feast started as soon as the Headmistress had explained everything regarding participating in the Tournament. Students would need to write their names on a piece of parchment and drop it in the cup. She had also set up an age limit, stopping anyone under the age of seventeen to drop his name in the cup. Fleur had spotted an identical spark in both Harry Potter's and Viktor Krum's eyes, meaning that would likely participate. The duo joining the competition would likely mean the end of whoever would champion for Beauxbatons, they were both high-league athletes and duelers after all.

The beauty started stacking some high-quality food on her silver plate as her friends stole a quick glance towards the residential superstars before mimicking her. The conversations in the hall became louder than the regular jabber.

"_At least the chefs made some better food to welcome our guests_" Maryse stated before grabbing some sort of exotic fruit from a far-away tray.

"_We couldn't have these Englishmen think us barbarians now, could we_?" Angélica said with a smirk towards the Hogwarts students that sat on their table.

"_Not all Englishmen are barbarians, just look at Potter!_" Alison Dufour replied quickly, making her friends giggle and her ears turn a bright red color.

They all looked down the Wrothbard table to see the same chubby fifth year that they had seemed too arrogant at the arrival. Aidan Potter was eating like a half-starved pig, his eyes were narrowed and concentrated, making eating look like a sport as he grabbed some food from nearby trays with one hand, and while the other shoved some more in his already filled mouth. He did not seem interested in talking to anybody as a few students near him were imitating his eating methods, a certain red-head and an odd looking youth.

After being elbowed by the red-head, the youngest Potter swallowed hard and wiped the food that was leaking around his mouth. He turned his head to see Fleur looking straight at him with a disgusted impression. He did not seem to notice as he winked and sent her a sly smile. The Wrothbard chaser snorted in disgust and quickly turned her head away.

"_Not THAT Potter you idiots!" _Helen yelled in outrage before standing up and leaving the hall, her sister hot on her heels.

A wide grin made its way on most of their faces as they replied in unison "Oh well." And resumed feasting.

Fleur's friends quickly left and skipped dessert as they needed time to prepare for their Quidditch practice. Normally, she would follow along with them but she felt like she needed some sugar after everything that had happened today. The most disturbing event undoubtedly being seeing her idol in the flesh and the idea of seeing him on a daily basis for months.

She cleaned her plate before eyeing some rich-looking chocolate cake. She meant to grab a piece but interrupted her gesture abruptly as two figures sat on each side of her while another rested in front.

The one in front of her, who seemed to be the leader, eyed her with his light brown eyes, "Hello Fleur" She stiffened at being called by her first name, nobody would call each other by their first names before even meeting. This boy obviously had no idea of how the French socialized "Yes I know your name" Aidan Potter said, trying to look smarter than he was by guessing what she was thinking, and yet he failed miserably.

The veela remained quiet.

The Boy-Who-Lived seemed a little offended that she did not talk to him "I'm the Boy-Who-Lived" he said proudly before looking at his friends whom were straightening their torsos in response to the statement. It was a known fact that men liked to boast when in presence of a Veela.

When he still didn't receive an answer, frustration obviously started controlling him.

"I've seen you staring, you can't get enough of me," he tried with an arrogant smirk "You can talk to me, I promise I won't let my super powers out of control"

Fleur chuckled, which only seemed to further infuriate the boy whom likely had no powers at all.

The red-head next to her grabbed her arm violently and started shacking "Answer him!" he practically shouted.

Aidan Potter had a sly grin on his face that made Fleur want to hex his lights out. Although, in this position, she wasn't really going to make threats. The three boys together could easily overpower her. For a moment she thought about yelling for help but her pride stood in her way, she wouldn't give in to this rat.

"Fleur my dear," she seriously dismissed the twitch that had erupted in her fists, "I always get what I want" he announced, his grin still plainly visible.

The brown-haired boy next to her grabbed her shoulder and started squeezing, softly at first, but it became harder as she resisted the Boy-Who-Lived. She was about to give in and talk to the boy, but she heard a loud squeak of fear coming from Aidan Potter. The hold on her shoulder suddenly released as her captor looked on, horrified.

The eldest, Harry Potter, stood close to her, holding the boy off the floor by his collar. This scene attracted a lot of attention as numerous faces, female and male alike, twisted towards the superstar. He pierced through the brown-haired boy's soul with his deep green eyes before asking in a loud bitter voice "Bullying more girls now, are we?"

Fleur could hardly believe it; her idol had arrived in the nick of time. Saving her as a knight in shining armor would have. It was almost too good to be true, so many good things had happened to her in the last twenty-four hours.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the boy flying over her head and slamming roughly against the younger Potter who screamed in fright. The hall had grown silent by this point.

"I'll tell mother!" Aidan yelled towards his brother before lifting his friend up and leaving the hall in disgrace.

Harry Potter simply grunted, obviously disgusted by his sibling's behaviour. He turned to look at her, she felt his gaze pierce into her as a knife would, making her fingers tremble. "I must extend an apology for my sibling's behaviour," He started through clenched teeth, "He did not receive the proper… Education" he said with an angry glare towards Dumbledore who was watching the scene with interest.

He then did the unexpected as he sat next to Fleur and offered her his hand "Harry Potter" he presented himself.

"Fleur Delacour, but I l'ready know who zhou are" She said with a nervous giggle as she shook his hand.

"I find it only proper to present myself to strangers Miss Delacour," he said with a charming smile showing his clear-white teeth "Your father works for the ministry does he not?" he asked.

"He does, zhou are well informed Mr. Potter, and more so on the french customs" she replied and returned his smile.

He nodded "Would you do me the honor of letting me escort you to your dormitory? I wouldn't want my rat of a brother to come sneaking around you again" He proposed intently.

She considered the request for a moment, judging the intent hidden behind the words and determined that they were nothing but kind. Fleur nodded quietly and got up. Harry lifted himself up and blinked a few times before ignoring the jealous gazes Fleur was receiving and followed her out the hall.

He looked up when he reached the garden, the rain was now pouring from the sky and a few flashes of light could be seen now and then, interrupting the grim mood that was set in. Fleur squeaked silently as she was hit by cold rain, which then stopped suddenly. She looked over to her escort and saw a smile, which immediately gave him away. "Silent and wandless casting?" she looked at him impressed "Very impressive"

"Takes practice, not too hard afterwards" He answered modestly, but Fleur knew better. Silent casting was, perhaps a little easier than wandless magic as more people mastered it. Though casting a charm without a wand was quite rare and extremely difficult to achieve while this man made it look like child's play.

They walked alone for a while, the rain still pouring around them, making the tree leaves drenched and the flowers all the more beautiful.

"You were at the World Cup correct?" He asked quietly.

"Indeed I was, you played most brilliantly Mr. Potter" she answered with a kind smile. In truth, Potter had played a lot better than brilliantly, if not for him, England would have rolled over and died before the match even started.

He nodded in thanks "Do zhou plan on participating in the tournament?" Fleur asked.

"Indeed I do, and yet it's not like I have much of a choice in the matter," Harry pointed out, "What about you?" He questioned, changing the subject.

"What do zhou mean? I am not allowed to participate, I am too young" She stated, quite confused, she had assumed that Potter would know that.

He laughed quietly "Being too young to pass the line doesn't mean you can't participate" he winked at her.

Fleur dismissed Potter's cryptic words "Well it seems we 'ave reached our destination" she said and turned to look at him. The huge building behind her, lights coming from the different windows making it seem like a night dance.

"Indeed milady, I would like to once again extend my sincere apologies for my brother's behaviour" He looked downwards in shame.

"All forgiven Mr. Potter," Fleur said with a quick smile which lifted his chin up "Do try and keep

'im under control please"

Harry laughed happily "Not sure about that, but if he bothers you again, make sure to advise me so I can… Take care of the problem" he said with a sly smirk.

Fleur gave him one last smile before entering her dorm quickly, intending to tell her friends everything about Mr. Potter.

A/N: R&R! Constructive criticism always appreciated! I'm also looking for some suggestions, so if there is anything you would like to see in this story, feel free to drop me a PM or leave the idea in a review. I've actually written up until chapter 4, and I'm halfway through chapter 5. As for the tasks, I was thinking of keeping dragons in the story, not in the same form (As in, what you need to do to succeed).

Until next time,

GoldenShade


	3. The Choosing

Chapter 3: The Choosing

"_Stop… Please stop" a young boy muffled out through his bleeding jaw._

_The men around him laughed grimly and stared him down "Then tell us what we need to know, kid" the one in charge blurted out._

"_I don't know…" the beaten youth said weakly, trembling from head to toe as he lay on the ground._

"_Tell us!" The men kicked him violently, taking turns as to emphasize the pain he was in. The boy managed to muffle his screams once again, only letting a few grunts of pain escape._

"_Never" He squeaked out bravely or foolishly depending on how you looked at it. The beaters resumed their work, constantly hitting the poor soul in his stomach, his face or even stomping his feet into the ground until a point when he could not feel a single bone in his body._

"_I won't betray my family!" He yelled once again, bringing laughter from the men._

"_They hate you kid, why do you think you were brought here in the first place?" The man announced and smiled mischievously. Not giving him any time to answer, he spoke the one spell that could break the brave young boy._

"_Crucio!"_

Harry woke up in a jolt, sweaty and terrified; he looked around for a possible menace, his instincts kicking in. When he only saw Roger and Cedric sleeping soundly, he allowed himself to drop back down on his pillow, still utterly stunned by his nightmare. Using his occlumency skills, he blocked out the negative thoughts from his mind and immediately felt the fatigue overcoming him.

* * *

Harry Potter, the Quidditch superstar and World Cup winner walked in the dining hall with a determined expression, his most recent nightmare mostly forgotten. There had been a lot of bad dreams disturbing his sleep lately so he took the initiative to ignore them. He eyed the Goblet of Fire as if it was an opponent while his friends stepped nervously behind him. He walked up; ignoring the stares he was receiving from the assembled crowd that was waiting for people to put their names in the cup. The goblet's fire blazed a bright blue as he stepped through the age line and deposited the piece of parchment in the glowing cup.

The different shades of lighting in the room seemed to turn negative for a split-second as he felt himself shiver when he sensed the approval of the goblet. The hall was soon filled with loud yells and claps as the legend walked out of the circle towards his friends whom applauded him enthusiastically. He gave a wink towards the silvery-blonde girl that was sitting on one of the stands with an opened book and was rewarded with a worried smile. His friends then pulled him out of the hall before he could say anything more.

"Yeaaaahhhh Harryyy!"

"This tournament is as good as won!"

"Hell yes!"

"Damn it guys, leave me alone!" Harry humored.

They walked to the lake and were pleasantly surprised by the calm atmosphere surrounding it. The relaxing sound of the waves seemed to lure them towards the bank where they all sat in the grass enjoying the sun which was high above them now. The vegetation was quite impressive to Harry, they didn't have many flowers and trees aside from the Forbidden Forest back at Hogwarts. Many high trees and small roses could be seen coming from the edges of the small clearing where he and his mates had settled down.

"Do you really think you vill vin Harry?" Viktor Krum asked while sitting down lazily next to Cedric Diggory, a Hogwarts seventh year with brown hair and a queer smile plastered to his face.

Krum had put his name in the Goblet himself and was likely going to be the Durmstrang champion "I guess it will all depend on the Beauxbatons champion since I proved I could beat you at the World Cup" Harry said playfully. This attracted a scowl from Krum, and then a loud burst of laughter from everyone present. In truth, Harry had a lot of respect for the Bulgarian seeker; he just enjoyed getting under his skin.

"Did you guys see that Veela when Harry was putting his name in the cup? I could barely control myself from jumping her!" Cedric said with a laugh.

"Don't think Cho would have liked that, buddy" Roger Davies, a sideways-cut brown hair, brown-eyed seventh year Ravenclaw said in between his laughter.

"Good thing she's still in the drill then!" Cedric blurted out.

"If she was here, you'd be dead!"

Both soon recovered from their laughter and Harry decided to learn a little more about the Veela "Any physical traits you remember?" He demanded.

"What do you mean Harrikens?" Roger asked confused.

"Yeah, didn't you feel the pull?" Cedric added in support to Roger's statement.

Harry lifted an eyebrow "None at all." He replied seriously.

"Oh boy! Our little Harry is immune!" Roger shouted enthusiastically.

Krum laughed after Roger's statement which removed him from his brooding expression. Seeing his fellow Quidditch player's confused expression, he explained, "You see Harry, the main quality Veela look for in potential mates," he winked, "is to be immune to their allure"

The lot of them laughed when they saw their friend turn to a pale white color followed by a bright flush of red.

After silencing them with his death glare, "So is someone going to tell me who it is or do I have to use force?" He said menacingly.

"Don't get your knickers in a twist Harrikens, we'll tell you who it is!" Cedric said with a sly smile.

"Yeah, apparently her name is Fleur Delacour" Roger announced, trying to supress his laughter at his friend's ignorance.

The color from Harry's face vanished again, leaving a blank, brooding expression. After a few minutes of reflexion and worried glances from his friends, "Bugger" was all he managed to say.

"What?" They asked in unison.

"I escorted her to the dorms yesterday!" He said slapping his forehead with his palm.

"Very good Harry, and how did you manage such a thing? Veelas usually aren't easy!" Roger said after hitting his friend's shoulder playfully. Davies was quite the playboy, constantly trying to get himself a girl. He used the strategy 'High risks yield high rewards' as he would go for the hottest women in the room and get turned down multiple times before getting accepted by one of them. This tactic was frowned upon by both Cedric and Harry who preferred to do things properly.

"I caught my sorry excuse for a brother trying to bully her into liking him" he said with a grin. It wasn't really Aidan's fault that he was raised in such a way. When they were young, Harry and his brother were given an equal amount of attention. At one point, Harry disappeared, breaking the hearts of those around him. Fearing the worst, his parents tightened the circle around Aidan and never let him take his own decisions again, besides when he asked for something, which he would get immediately. When Harry mysteriously reappeared, he did not speak to anyone about what had happened, nor did he make any efforts to reassure his parents that he was fine. They had tried talking to him, but he would have none of it.

"Oh so that's why you ran off like you did…" Cedric stated to no one in particular before resting his head in one of his hands, thinking "Well, your brother was never the sharpest tool in the shed" he continued in disgust at the boy's feeble attempts at love.

"Yeah and he's pretty stupid too" Roger added.

"That's what the expression means Roger" Cedric said with a mocking smile while slapping his forehead with his palm.

"Oh… Right." Came in reply as Roger flushed red.

Harry couldn't help but laugh loudly as the predicament in front of him "Anyways, enough about Veela. Let's just keep talking about the tournament"

"I think I heard Dumbledore telling his 'Ikkle _protégée _that the first task would concern dragons" Roger said, trying to catch up from his mistake.

"Hmm… Dragons…" Harry seemed thoughtful for a few moments "Shouldn't be a problem" he said and chuckled at his friends' amazed expressions.

"Not small dragons Harry, stuff like Hungarian Horntails and Chinese Fireballs apparently!"

"Horntails are bastards to deal with, but I could take the Fireball pretty easily I think" Harry said with a smirk towards Krum who seemed intimidated for the first time in his life.

"But Harry, they are dragons, how can you not be nervous about it?" Viktor said uncertainly, while still admiring his friend's battle-courage.

The eldest potter leaned back on the grass and laid flat "Simple," he started and closed his eyes, "I'm not face-to-face with one yet" he finished and let a quick chuckle escape as his friends yelled in consternation.

"Shush you! Let's go back to the hall, lunch should be served by now" He said and got up.

"NOW you're speaking my language!" Roger said greedily as he clasped his hands together.

Harry's estimation proved true when they arrived to a flux of students rushing into the hall for lunch. The quartet walked to the front and sat in the Wrothbard table, attracting multiple glares as the stars sat. As soon as the food appeared, they started filling their plates with various French luxuries. After a few minutes of quiet eating, Harry noticed that his friends had dropped their utensils and were staring open-mouthed at the silvery-blonde girl that had just walked in. The brother of the Boy-Who-Lived laughed loudly and smacked his friends behind the head to make them snap out of it while sending an apologetic smile towards Fleur Delacour who seemed amused at the situation.

"Damn, sorry Harry, that Veela is just hot" Roger said with a grin as he resumed eating.

"I guess she does not have her povers under control yet" Krum said neutrally. In truth, even when a Veela learned to control her powers, she would still attract the glances of men; they just wouldn't be staring wide-eyed and open-mouthed like there were now.

"Her povers?" Cedric laughed mockingly.

Viktor eyed him dangerously before smirking when he saw the effect his glare had on Cedric and returning to his food.

"Did you hear Harry?" Roger asked.

"Hear what?" He answered, confused.

"There's a Quidditch game between Aragon and Wrothbard later this afternoon, want to go?" He said enthusiastically, knowing perfectly what the answer would be.

"When have I ever declined anything that has something to do with Quidditch!" Harry replied, making his friends grin and give each other odd looks. Harry simply dismissed them by a wave of his hand and returned to his food as they did.

Harry made his way through the stands with Roger, Cedric and Krum. The fact that two professional Quidditch players were attending a Beauxbatons game was attracting quite a lot of attention as they were cheered on louder than the actual team that was playing.

"Bloody hell Harry quit hogging all the attention!" Roger yelled playfully after the cheering finally died down.

"Like I asked for this" Harry snorted. Considering that he was a guest, he was allowed to sit in the staff stands, where he took a seat next to Madame Maxime and was soon followed by his friends whom sat next to him.

"'Ello Mr. Potter, I do 'ope that you will be impressed by my students" the half-giantess said politely.

"I have no doubt that I will, Headmistress" He replied with a kind smile.

Meanwhile, Fleur was in the locker rooms with her team, waiting to enter the pitch. They were all dressed in pretty blue and white Quidditch robes. Angélica was about to start her ritual motivation speech.

"We're here. Not to win. Not to fight. Not to have fun." She started dramatically, eyeing every member of her team "We're here for our house; we're here to bring back the house cup to Wrothbard. And we will." She got up and was soon followed by the rest of the team including Fleur. In her opinion, her captain's speeches were becoming worst and worst as time went by.

She started hearing the commentator.

"_Here comes Aragon, oh boy!" _He said with a monotone voice, attracting scowls from the crowd.

Angélica led the team out and kicked off, setting the example for the ones behind her. Fleur sped to the center of the pitch after a quick lap and stared at the staff stand. Sure she had heard that Harry Potter would be attending, though she didn't believe until now. It seemed that Quidditch truly was his passion. Her eyes locked with his for a moment and she thought she saw a distinctively charming wink coming from the wizard in question.

She re-focused her mind on the field and prepared for the referee to release the Quaffle.

* * *

The match had ended 260-230 which was considered a quite tight game, whoever had caught the snitch won. It turned out to be Aragon who escaped with the victory. Fleur and the Wrothbard team had played well, Harry thought, but not well enough, they spent most of their time arguing against each other while the other team moved in for the kill. They just needed to fix their communication problems and they could rise to become a great team.

He had left his friends at the drill and made his way to the clearing at the lake.

What he didn't expect was for his spot to be taken already. A silvery blonde was sitting quietly, eyes closed. He figured that she was gathering her thoughts; it was something that Harry did often whenever he lost a game, which was rare in itself. As he approached and set foot on the dirty surface, Fleur opened her eyes in surprise and he saw her reach for her wand quickly.

Before she could reach it, Harry already had her at wand point. He realised it a few seconds later and put it in his pocket "Sorry about that, instincts kicked in" he said, raising his hands in the air in defeat.

Fleur stared with her baby-blue eyes for a moment "'ow did you draw your wand so fast?" she asked amazingly, not meeting his piercing green gaze just yet.

Harry chuckled quietly, "Trade secret" he answered and smiled.

Fleur turned back towards the lake disappointingly "So let me get this straight," she looked back and met his gaze, "I just 'umiliated my 'ouse in front of not only the entire school, but a famous Quidditch player as well" she stated neutrally and looked back to the lake.

Harry sat next to her and analysed her expression, she didn't seem disappointed, just lost. He decided to ignore that fact "You played great Fleur, that score is nothing to be ashamed of, you had fun and that's what it's all about" he tried calmly.

"Tell that to Angélica" Fleur scowled, her beautiful blue eyes narrowing.

"Angélica?" Harry asked, having only been at the school for a few days, he couldn't be expected to know everyone just yet.

"My captain," She looked on for a second or two, "I could present 'er to you if you want to feast with us" the Veela asked uncertainly, obviously expecting him to decline and go eat with his own friends.

Noticing her worried expression he smiled kindly "I'd be glad to feast with you" he paused for a moment and let his words sink in while Fleur's expression turned to one of happiness "I'm getting kind of tired of Krum's brooding state"

Fleur giggled, got up and led him back up to the dining hall.

They walked through the garden quietly until Fleur broke the silence with what was bothering her "Harry? I can call you Harry right?" She asked nervously. Only when she saw him nod did she continue "You must know that I am a part-Veela by now?"

"It's not exactly subtle when all my friends are gaping at you like goldfish" Harry answered and chuckled.

She giggled quietly but was quickly back on track "Then how is it that you, and only you, can resist my allure?"

Harry opened his mouth widely to speak but he was quickly cut off by Fleur "And don't say trade secret" He closed his mouth back, bringing a loud laugh from the Veela.

He thought about it for a moment "Well, I've never really thought about it, maybe it's just because of Occlumency but I doubt it"

Fleur had no idea what occlumency was, but she dismissed the thought as she walked in and forced herself to ignore the various lustful glares from the wizards as she saw Harry doing the same with the witch population. The diamond chandelier shined brightly above their heads, casting impressive shades across the room. Fleur looked on and saw her Quidditch team dressed in their blue robes looking at her impressively.

"Nice catch Fleur!" Maryse said playfully, much to Harry's embarrassment as Fleur thought she saw his ears turn red. She thought that Maryse had a little child's crush on the star, despite a lot of girls already trying to 'eliminate' the competition from the Harry Potter war.

They proceeded to present themselves to the Quidditch superstar, when they were done they managed to engage in conversation.

"I can't wait to see who gets picked as champion!" Angélica said loudly.

"I take it you signed up?" Harry asked.

She nodded and filled her plate with simple butter toasts "Are you sure you want to participate Harry?" Fleur asked worriedly. He raised an eyebrow at her, interested as to why she worried so much "I don't want you getting hurt!" She said quickly, her face turning a bright red, making her friends laugh loudly. The Tri-Wizard tournament had once been discontinued due to the high amount of deaths that it was bringing, it was only natural for her to worry.

Harry was the first to recover "Somehow, I don't think you need to worry about me Fleur" He answered and winked, trying to dissipate the worry she was feeling by showing his self-confidence. It seemed to work as he saw her shoulders release the tension that was keeping them lifted. Although she did not seem convinced, she appeared to be willing to index it until later.

Sensing this, Clémence spoke up "Honestly Fleur, do you worry that much when he's on his broom and dodging bludgers?" She asked her with a playful smirk.

Fleur blushed a little more and looked around for Angélica in search of support, the later simply shrugged and left her on her own "He knows Quidditch inside out, this will be far more dangerous!"

Harry laughed out loud when he heard that which only further infuriated his blonde friend "Pray tell me WHAT is so funny?!"

Harry got himself under control "Sorry, you just sound like one my friends," He paused and gathered his thoughts, "You know, if I never test myself, how am I supposed to get better?"

The question left her dumbstruck but she didn't have time to answer as Madame Maxime spoke up using a _Sonorus_ charm to make herself louder "Attention students of Hogwarts, Durmstrang and Beauxbatons," She waited for the masses to settle down, "We will proceed to the selection of the champions!"

A lot of people stiffened and straightened their backs at this; it seemed that a lot of Beauxbatons students had entered their names in the Goblet of Fire. Harry simply retained his calm demeanor, much to the annoyance of the part-Veela sitting next to him. Professors Dumbledore and Karkaroff were now standing on either sides of Madame Maxime as she made to retrieve the names from the flaming goblet. The chandelier's lights suddenly became quite low, only adding to the dramatic effect the goblet was having on the student body.

A paper flew out of the goblet and landed in Madame Maxime's hand. She took it quietly and looked to Dumbledore apprehensively "The Hogwarts champion-"it attracted loud gasps as the whole student body turned to stare at Harry who chuckled quietly. "-is Harry Potter"

He put a comforting hand on Fleur's shoulder before getting up and walking straight to the gathered headmasters under the loud applauses of the enthusiastic witches and wizards. He shacked each of their hands and entered a room to the side.

Harry walked down the stairs that led to a quiet basement room. A fire was ablaze warming and lighting the room. It was quite dark, but he could distinguish some old, dusty trophies standing on nearby glass-protected shelves. He decided to settle in a red couch in front of the flames. It didn't take long before he heard some footsteps descending the stairwell leading to the lonely room. He could bet his fortune that the person coming down was Bulgarian and was a quidditch star.

His guess proved correct as Viktor Krum came into his line of sight, silently nodding in respect before coming over and sitting on the other end of the couch.

"Any idea about who the Beauxbatons champion will be?" He asked Krum without tearing his gaze away from the fire.

"None" he answered quietly.

"Guess we'll find out soon enough" Harry whispered mostly to himself as he heard some clapping coming from the hall upstairs. Krum simply nodded.

The door opened, leaving a tense atmosphere between the two rising stars. The first step rang, and then the next, and the next until the person's feet became visible. The mystery champion walked down a few steps to reveal her face, and a gorgeous face it was. She had dark blond hair and hazelnut-brown eyes, much different than Fleur's silvery touch, Harry thought. Her facial features let him believe that she was some kind of high-ranking individual and was a lot like his brother, spoiled. It wasn't so much her way of looking towards them, but the way she walked, it spoke of arrogance, and yet of confidence at the same time.

"Catherine Desjardins, Beauxbatons champion" she said emotionlessly and without giving them a look.

Krum seemed to have noticed the same thing he did, as he snorted in disgust before turning back to looking at the blazing fire. Having more experience with spoiled brats, Harry kept staring at the witch before him, he would be lying if he said he did not find her exceptionally pretty, he was a wizard after all. Everything just depended on what she would say next, but she seemed like the type that you needed to earn the respect from before she would even give you a look.

"Welcome to the club" was all Harry said before turning his head and looking on towards the blazing fire.

The girl stared at him a few more moments before smirking mischievously and leaning her back against a wall. They were all soon startled to hear another person walking down the stairs, normally, the judges would come to them using the alternate stairwell, but this person was using the conventional way, which would only mean one thing. Harry closed his eyes in apprehension, he knew what was coming but he didn't like it one bit.

A silvery-blonde came down, her legs threatening to tumble under her and her head in her trembling hands. Harry felt his heart melt as she moved her gaze into his piercing green eyes. She was tearing up nervously and the star did the first thing that came to mind. He had comforted multiple girls in his past when they were having problems with either Roger or Cedric. He rushed to her side and held her in a tight embrace, his hand behind her head, pressing her against his chest and whispering quietly.

Obviously not catching on as to what was going on, Catherine started speaking "What is eet? Do they want us back in zhe hall?" She asked in a relatively thick accent. By then, Fleur had recovered a bit of self-control and had the good sense not to answer the question. She rested her head on Harry's shoulder and closed her eyes, hoping to wake up in her bed to a comforting Clémence.

"It's okay Fleur," knowing what she would be thinking Harry added, "You didn't put your name in the goblet" his voice as authoritative as it could get.

For once in his life, Viktor Krum seemed to have a concerned gaze plastered on his face while Catherine Desjardins snorted in disgust and looked towards the staff stairwell where footsteps could be heard. Harry ignored the Beauxbatons champion's disrespect and led Fleur to the couch where he sat her down. He shared a look with Viktor as they both made their way towards the stairwell, waiting for the judges to arrive.

It wasn't long before Ludo Bagman, Ol' Barty Crouch, Dumbledore, Maxime and Karkaroff came in arguing horribly over Beauxbatons being allowed two champions. "I came here thinking ve vould get good competition!" Karkaroff complained in a thick accented English.

"I find myself in agreement with Igor" Dumbledore said 'wisely'.

Krum gave him a look that seemed to say "Why are headmasters so stupid?" and Harry chuckled loudly, making everyone in the room turn to look at him.

"Pray tell us what is so funny Mr. Potter" The Hogwarts headmaster said.

"Simple, you're here arguing like teenagers," They started to protest before he lifted a hand, effectively silencing them all, "I have the solution to our problem. The ancient laws of the Tri-Wizard Tournament, as set up by the long-gone old government, clearly state that if a name comes out of the Goblet of Fire, the person in question is bound by magic to participate in the tournament" he said grimly.

The three head of schools eyed him curiously before turning to Barty Crouch "I'm afraid Mr. Potter is right, Miss Delacour must participate" he stated emotionlessly, still glaring at the youngest champion.

"But she is too young! Zhou cannot 'expect 'er to rival against seventh years!" Maxime exclaimed loudly.

"She does not have a choice Madame" Krum announced coldly.

"Viktor?" Igor asked, confused.

"If she does not participate… Vell, bad things vill happen" Krum finished, to which Harry nodded his approval. Both of them were on the same line of thoughts, the Headmasters were simply allowing their jealousy to cloud their thinking.

There was no work-around. Fleur was stuck in participating in the Tri-Wizard tournament with the other champions this year. Harry vowed not to let her get hurt; it was not her fault that she was entered in the tournament; someone had done it to get her killed. Possibly someone holding a grudge against her father for political reasons. He took a mental note to get her parents at the school as soon as possible.

"Headmaster, please send a message to Mr and Mrs Delacour and inform them to meet me and Fleur by the lake in half an hour" Such a feat was possible only by using the wide variety of portkeys the Hogwarts Headmaster had at his disposal. Despite his reluctance to heed a student's advice, Albus did as told, considering that it was a decision he would likely have made sooner or later.

"I'll see all of you tomorrow" He announced, nodding towards Krum and the other champion as he helped Fleur up and led her towards the lake.

Harry conjured a bench in the clearing they usually sat in. The sky was black, but he could see a few grey clouds passing in front of the shining moon, which was only adding to the sinister feeling. He sat Fleur on the bench and quickly sat next to her. Not wanting to disturb her privacy, he resolved to simply being there. She would talk when ready.

"'Ow did this 'appen 'Arry?" She asked after a few minutes of uncomfortable silence.

"I think I know the answer to that question, but it'll have to wait until your parents get here" He answered.

She looked down at her feet "I'm scared" She stated as a cold shiver went through her body visibly. Harry pulled the English red-and-gold scarf that he had used during the World Cup Qualifiers from his extendable pockets and wrapped it around her neck. She muttered a quick thanks before looking out towards the horizon.

After a few more minutes, Fleur's parents arrived in a crack as the boot portkey dropped to the floor. Harry shot up and gave the family some privacy as he leaned his back on the wall of the hall. Mr Delacour was an imposing man, dark brown hair, piercing blue eyes, strong and well built; he stood just a few inches shorter than Harry. His face had a few scars, showing his history in the first war against Voldemort. Mrs Delacour had the usual grace and beauty that you would expect from a Veela, although he was still unaffected by her powerful allure. It was not difficult to see who Fleur took from; they had the same eyes, the same hair and the same facial features.

The trio talked quietly on the bench before Mrs Delacour walked off with Fleur, her lips forming into a quick 'thank you' that Harry caught and nodded at. The patriarch of the family walked towards him.

"I must thank you for waiting with Fleur" He offered his hand which Harry took happily, "Jacques Delacour" He presented himself.

"Harry Potter" Harry muttered and was amused to see a twinkle appear in the man's eyes at the mention of his name, "I may have some information that you might find useful sir"

Jacques nodded for Harry to continue "I think you will agree with me when I state that Fleur being entered in the tournament and your need to fight off more and more political adversaries is no coincidence" Mr Delacour paled for a second.

"You think they are using my family to get to me?" Harry flinched for the first time in his life as he saw the pure anger that was forming in the man's eyes. It was a known fact that Jacques Delacour was a man of his family, he would suffer the worst tortures or insults himself, but simply glare at one of his daughters the wrong way and you'd be in for a nasty surprise.

The star nodded "If it's okay with you, I can offer to protect her during the tasks. As a champion I'll be able to act quicker as I will be close by" He said, he intended to be close to Fleur at all times during the tasks.

Jacques' expression seemed to calm a little; hearing that a Quidditch and Duelling champion would be protecting his daughter was somewhat of a relief, despite the tension still floating in the air "I would appreciate that" He answered with a warm smile.

Harry nodded quietly.

* * *

He was in his bed, looking up at the metal ceiling, thinking over the recent events that had transpired. Fleur obviously had not put her name in the cup, judging by her reaction, but he couldn't help but think that she was in danger right now. Someone needed to be behind this. Someone powerful… Someone with such high standings in the Ministry that he could get away with doing such a thing. He put the thoughts aside and turned to see Roger and Cedric lying in their beds, both doing the same thing he did.

"So she really didn't do anything right?" Roger asked innocently, still gazing at the ceiling.

"Would you enter a deadly tournament knowing that you didn't stand a chance?" Cedric snapped.

"If you put it that way, than no, I guess I wouldn't" the Ravenclaw answered quietly while turning his smirking face to their Hufflepuff friend.

"If you two don't stop arguing I'll hex your bits off!" A menacing voice said form the entrance of the door, knocking Cedric to the floor in surprise. It was the one person he had learned to fear and love, and yet was still more terrified than happy whenever he spotted the black-haired Ravenclaw.

"Bloody hell Cho!" He yelled, rubbing his elbow.

"Sorry, couldn't help it" The Asian girl replied with a seductive smile directed towards her boyfriend. She walked up to Cedric who was now sitting on his bed and gave him a quick peck before settling down next to the man.

"What do you think Harry?" Cho asked.

He let out a deep breath and thought about the question for a moment "I think this is going to be a bloody weird year".

A/N: Next chapter will probably be Friday, depending on my beta. Again R&R, suggestions, PM me with ideas... Chapter 4 is quite action-packed I think. Let me put it this way, Aidan haters; you'll be served quite well. The update speed will start slowing down soon as I had written 4 chapters in advance before posting this story. I'm halfway done with the 5th. Also guys, I'm not sure which team Harry should join for the European Cup which will take place during the summer following the Tri-Wizard tournament. Vratsa Vultures? Quiberon Quafflepunchers? Puddlemere United? Chudley Cannons? Falmouth Falcons? An original team made by me? What do you think?

Until next time,

GoldenShade


	4. Her Knight

A/N: Special thanks to Alyksandr for being a great beta.

Chapter 4: Her Knight

The next few days had been terrible. The majority of Beauxbatons' student body were now thinking that Fleur found a way to put her name into the cup so that she could stand out in Harry Potter's eyes. Most wizards were convinced otherwise, however they kept quiet in fear of offending their witch counterparts. Our Silver Flower had spent numerous hours simply laying on her bed, wondering why this happened. Of course, her parents had been supportive, saying that she had a fair chance of winning the tournament. The truth was, she didn't stand a chance, and she knew it, despite being a veela, she was not nearly as gifted as her competitors, she had neither Harry's magical prowess nor Krum's quick mind, nor Catherine's vast repertoire of knowledge.

She realised that she was doing all this for nothing, and with the slightest slip in her luck it would truly be for naught, as one grueling task could very well spell her death. It was all a question of perspective really, the media had devoured the prospect of having a younger champion added into the mix; they simply loved a good underdog. She had appeared on the cover of _La France Aujourd'hui_one of the more popular French magical publications, which only added fuel to the fires of hate the female population bore for her in their hearts, as they all seemed to know of the handsome Quidditch star that was attending the school presently.

The Veela had yet to see Harry, ever since she became a champion; she deliberately tried to stay away from everyone else. The only friends who stood by her side were Clémence and Maryse; the others had abandoned her like the change of seasons, when the rumors of 'a-certain-Veela-using-her-allure-to-bewitch-the-sexiest-man alive' started.

Fleur Delacour was now in her _Défense Contre les Forces du Mal_(DADA) class. She was wondering how, and if, she should talk to Harry. Her parents had taken quite a liking to him as they rather liked to talk about the green-eyed quidditch star in their letters. Normally' she would be amused by this but her new mask prevented her from feeling such an emotion. The class was rather large; many desks were running down in four different aisles with the main one being the professor's. Behind it, there were two large windows which featured an exquisite view of the cliffs, the room had been designed to be used as ramparts should the need arise.

The Wrothbard students were sitting at the far left table, and then in order were Aragon, Dezobry and Scorpius. The Hogwarts and Durmstrang fifth years were sitting in various desks spread out across the room.

Even some of the teachers had started looking at Fleur oddly; most of which hated her beforehand, but this recent twist gave them a reason to rub it in, much to Our Flower's demise. Their DADA teacher went by the name Nathalie Lincourt, she had bright ginger hair cut short, a little above her shoulders. She was slightly chubby, but not overly so as one could still see a considerable amount of curves around her body. Her pale green eyes held something menacing in them, as if to say that she meant business. The witch had been kind to Fleur at first, but the two had started drifting apart when she hit her third year, now, they simply loathed each other.

"Today we will learn zhe Confundus charm" Mrs. Lincourt said as she paced in front of her desk with her hands behind her back. The lessons were in English as most Beauxbatons and Durmstrang students knew the language. Some students stiffened after hearing the charm they would learning.

"Could anyone tell me its uses?" the Professor asked, finally stopping her pacing but kept her hands firmly behind her back. Immediately, one or two hands shot up, but the witch ignored them. Instead, she focused her attention on the silvery-blonde teen in front of her. "Miss Delacour?" She said with an obviously arrogant smirk.

She heard numerous students laugh "It is used to confuse someone" the flower replied calmly, living up to her Ice Queen reputation.

"Someone or something isn't that right Miss Delacour?" the professor added, as if it was not enough already. Fleur snorted quietly and looked back down at her books, not wanting to look at her professor. Nathalie Lincourt eventually stopped trying to get the Veela to snap and returned to teaching her class the proper uses of the Confundus charm, which had obviously only been picked as a subject so she could insult Fleur with it.

She didn't see the time pass as it was soon time to leave for lunch; she packed her things and ignored the stares that her fellow students were impolitely giving her. Not wanting to leave with her classmates, she remained in the class until the last student, except herself, had departed. Deeming it safe enough, she got up and walked towards the door with a confident pace.

As soon as she left the room, she felt a hand wrap around her arm, pull her aside brutally and pin her against a wall. She opened her eyes slowly, dazzled at the speed of the assault. Her baby-blue eyes met a chubby fifth year's as she snorted in disgust. Aidan Potter and his goons were standing right in front of her; the first had both hands around both her arms, holding her in place. The boy had a malicious smile on his face that worried her a little. She had not heard from the Boy-Who-Lived since his brother had thrown one of his henchmen over a table.

"Now now, My Dear Flower, you didn't actually think I had given up on you?" He said sarcastically, he actually seemed convinced by his own lies; that Fleur liked him and that Harry was only trying to get her for himself.

When she didn't answer he only spoke a louder "I could make you rich and famous, you know?" She couldn't believe he was actually resorting to bribery in love, it was truly pathetic. She didn't even think Catherine Desjardins would stoop that low, and she hated the girl!

She refused to answer once again, which seemed to truly irritate the youngest Potter as he took a few steps backwards, releasing her arms. She looked for an escape but realized that she was cornered between three strong boys and a brick wall. Not much of a chance. She didn't understand why the bloody kid wouldn't just give up already; she thought it was quite clear that she did not want anything to do with him after she let his brother smash his goon into him. Some people are just, well, plain stupid.

As she was thinking of these things, she felt a searing pain on her left cheek. She screamed loudly when she saw the boy's hand recoiling from her face. She had been hit, and not softly either, he had taken his full swing and left Fleur's jaw bleeding. Why would someone do such a thing? What happened to gentlemen, knights and chivalry, people that would never even think about hitting a witch? It seemed that these boys were neither knights nor gentlemen, demons perhaps.

"Now will you answer me Flower?" She heard Aidan Potter say through the buzzing sound that she had suddenly been able to hear. The beaten veela tumbled to the floor in a loud _Thud!_She saw Potter hit one of his goons "You hit her too hard you idiot!"

"_Incarcerous!_" Came from a voice at the other end of the hall, keeping hope in Fleur's heart as she saw ropes tangle the delinquents together.

There were then three simultaneous cries of pain as they hit the floor, all with bloody noses. "Damn it Harry! Leave us alone!" Aidan said in a loud, yet hurt voice.

"You bloody git!" The Quidditch star yelled as he saw Fleur's bleeding form on the floor. She heard a loud '_Crack!'_and quietly squeaked in terror. Harry had hit his brother's face, likely breaking his nose in the process. There was not even a cry of pain this time; the boy simply collapsed unconscious from the pain.

She felt herself being picked up from the floor bridal-style. She looked up slyly to see her knight in shining armor's piercing green eyes staring determinedly ahead. She finally felt safe in his strong arms and allowed herself to succumb to the darkness that was menacing her for days.

XXX

Fleur regained consciousness around ten hours later, her eyes were screaming to open themselves, but her body refused the command. What had just happened? She tried to remember the quick events that had taken place today. The lingering memory of Aidan Potter's friend hitting her and the pain she received flew in front of her beautiful blue eyes. She winced when she recalled the impact of the boy's fist on her cheek. Then, her eyes finally succeeded in their effort and opened up slowly. The first thing she saw was the ceiling, she was laying on her back in one of the infirmary beds. Clear white sheets were wrapped around her, a proof of being tucked in. A few hanging torches were lighting up the room in a vintage fashion.

Her eyes looked over to her side and she saw him. What surprised her most was that his usually piercing green eyes were closed and his head was crooked in an odd angle. He had fallen asleep by her side! She could barely supress the excitement and was punished by a sharp pain on her jaw. She thought about what he had done for her, comforting her when she was in need and saving her from his annoying brother. She also felt a little guilty for turning cold on him all of a sudden. She muffled a groan of pain as to not wake Harry Potter, however her attempts were in vain, as his eyes snapped open.

He walked over to her bed "How are you feeling?" He asked guiltily. Fleur detected the hint of desperation in his voice and wondered how he could feel bad about the situation. He had saved her, after all.

"'Arry" was all she could say without moving her jaw and hurting herself. He took the move as a good sign as he smiled warmly at her, making her wince. _Gee who's the veela around here?_She asked herself in her mind.

She looked past him and saw a chubby Aidan Potter lying on a bed, eyes closed in their direction "He's fine, I just… I snapped" Harry said, deepening his guilt-filled tone and closing his eyes. It seemed like he had done more than that, his brother's nose was wrapped in a huge white bandage.

"'Ot your 'ault" she managed to send out her hurting mouth.

He smiled sadly at her "I guess. I suggest you get some rest now, I'll be here the whole night" He announced in a reassuring matter. It actually did make her feel safe knowing that she was not alone in a room with Aidan Potter, and that the wizard guarding her was none other than Harry Potter.

The next morning, the beautiful Silver Flower woke up and frowned sadly when she realised that her Knight was gone. In fact, both Potters had left in the early morning to attend breakfast. Fleur picked up an annoying scent and slapped her forehead with her palm when she remembered that she had not taken a shower in three days. She looked up at the clock and determined that breakfast had only been served ten minutes ago, which left her plenty of time to go to the washrooms, which she did.

She left the infirmary with her jaw fully healed, a nice lavender scent and a radiant smile. She swiftly walked to the dining hall, effectively ignoring the hateful glances she was receiving from the witches. Beauxbatons was a true rumor mill, if someone said you had faked an injury only to be carried to the infirmary in Harry Potter's strong arms, than the students would likely believe the same. She had learned to ignore those hateful lies almost four years ago, when she first became their subject.

She entered the hall, catching Harry's eye as she smiled charmingly at him. He smiled back happily before returning to his breakfast. Her Knight was sitting at the Scorpius table, beside a happy looking Catherine Desjardins. It was no secret that she had a huge crush on the Quidditch superstar.

She sat next to Clémence and close to Maryse, her now only friends "_We heard what happened, damn lucky there was a certain green-eyed Knight around the corner eh?_" Maryse asked with a smile, which Fleur returned slyly.

"_Yes, although it was a little scary when he hit his own brother_" Fleur answered timidly as she started piling the food on to her plate.

"_Bloody git deserved it!_" Clémence snapped to her friends' surprise, she was usually the calm, passive one, "_Hitting a woman… Where did chivalry go?!"_She complained.

"_Well apparently Harry got that gene, and everything else really_" Maryse stated playfully.

Fleur nodded "_All Aidan got was a scar on his forehead, a chubby belly and a nut-sized brain_" she added, deepening the hate the three friends bore for the youngest Potter, "_Hopefully, he learned his lesson though._"

"_I sure learned it; don't mess with Harry bloody Potter! I'd hate to be on the receiving end of that wand!"_Clémence said and muffled a quick giggle through her munching.

"_In this case, it was a fist._" Fleur pointed out, adding her own laughter into the mix. The friends simply ate and enjoyed their meal together while talking about Harry and dismissing the Boy-Who-Lived in rather harsh insults. Fleur spotted the superstar getting up and walking towards the staff table where an angry-looking Professor Dumbledore was beckoning for him. A few words were exchanged in quiet whispers; the Silver-Haired Veela looked towards Aidan Potter and saw him grinning at the scene before them, _Not good_, she thought.

The hall suddenly turned quiet as Harry turned away from his Headmaster and slowly walked away, leaving a scowling Dumbledore behind him "How dare you walk away from me?!" He exclaimed loudly.

Harry simply stopped, his back still to the Professor. Being in front of him, Fleur could see his green eyes closing, as if he was holding back a wave of emotions from taking control of his body and hexing the old man. The hall had grown completely silent at the man's outburst, leaving the students dumbstruck "I will not be punished for something that I did not do Professor" He stated calmly before resuming his walk towards the gateway.

Fleur saw the scowl on the older man's face turn to something worse; a savage, hungry look seemed to erupt on the man's facial features. She realised a moment too late what was coming for Harry as Dumbledore drew his wand and fired a silent red curse at his student, attracting loud gasps from the crowd. She had started getting up, planning to block the curse when a force pushed her back down, she felt Harry's gaze on her as he flicked his wrist and blocked the powerful stunning hex with a silent, and wandless shielding charm. The crowd simply stared in awe as Harry successfully blocked the stunning spell of one of the most powerful wizards in the world without even drawing his wand.

"Honestly Professor, I didn't think you would drop as low as attacking one of your own students," Harry started, a small smirk plastered on his face, "What would the press think about this?" He questioned and closed the conversation, leaving for his dormitory, his friends hot on his heels. In truth, Dumbledore had a policy. Anyone who touched his little protégé would feel his wrath. This time it had backfired, as he was not aware of Harry's wandless talents.

As soon as the students left the hall, the Beauxbatons rumor mill started, saying how Harry Potter was abused when he was a child by Dumbledore, and that the entire world should revolt against the man, or that Harry Potter was a badass, oh wait, that one is true. All in all, people were really starting to hate Dumbledore due to his unnecessary outburst, as they mostly started siding with the famous Quidditch player.

"_Holy shit! Did you two see that?!"_Clémence exclaimed loudly, practically screaming.

"_How could we miss it? A teacher attacks one of his student, what the hell?!"_Maryse added incredulously, only adding to the loud whispering that had erupted in the hall. Dumbledore was still staring at the gateway; he quickly walked out and followed his pupil.

"_Wandless shielding charms… Very hard to perform_" Fleur stated, mostly to herself but her friends heard it anyways. Casting a wandless protego charm against a stunning spell of that magnitude was actually a task of immeasurable difficulty.

"_Yeah, it seems like there's more to Harry than meets the eye._" Maryse said seductively, watching the gateway where Dumbledore and Harry had just left by.

XXX

"Dude! What was that all about?!" Roger Davies exclaimed as Harry lay down on his bed.

"He tried making me accept a year-long detention for hitting my own bloody brother." Harry said, laughing loudly.

"Who would have known that he would actually try and stun you?" Cho Chang asked, while sitting on Cedric's lap.

"Nobody, it was quite weird. Good thing I learned wandless casting though" Harry stated modestly. He stood up and walked towards their window. The academy seemed quite peaceful if you looked at it from above, or from far, but it couldn't be further from the truth.

"Damn right! He would have stunned you into next week!" Roger said with a quick smirk.

"My only hope is that Aidan finally learned his bloody lesson" the Quidditch star said firmly.

"But Harrikens, you must've said that a hundred times when we were at Hogwarts!" Cedric exclaimed, making them laugh and releasing the tension that had been building up. Cedric and Roger were masters at calming down the atmosphere, probably why Harry liked them so much.

"Let's just hope that he won't try something for some time then." Harry answered with a grin towards his friends.

"Yeah poor Fleur, having a git like that trying to get you alone… Damn" Roger added, his face slowly turning into a scowl as he thought of everything that the Youngest Potter had done at Hogwarts, and the list was certainly a lengthy one.

XXX

A few weeks had past and the first task was now only a few days away. Fleur had kept her Ice mask for the main population but had released it when in contact with her friends, which included a certain Harry Potter. She was walking on the stone path in the garden; she had been called for a champion ceremony of some sort, not knowing what it was, she had brought her wand, just in case. She knew that Krum, Harry and Catherine would be there. The Veela disliked the female champion, in their childhood, every time Fleur was gifted something new, she always strived to get something better. It did not seem like it had changed considering Catherine's father's high position in the ministry and her apparent interest in Harry.

She arrived at the designated location in the forest and was surprised to find a cabin that had not been there before. Its walls were made of rotting wood and the door was barely hanging on, or so it seemed. As she creaked the door open, she found a very large room in which were sitting the three other champions, their Headmasters and Headmistress, a few important figures and an odd-looking journalist.

"Ah! Our youngest champion! Take a seat Fleur!" Ludo Bagman said in a cheerful voice, after being snapped out of his trance by an angry-looking Igor Karkaroff. The Silvery Haired Veela walked gracefully to her appointed chair, ignoring the fact that Catherine seemed to be quite unhappy when she sat next to Harry.

"Now! This ceremony is only for tradition's sake, it is called the Weighting of the Wands!" Ludo announced before walking towards an old man sitting at a table "This man is Garrick Ollivander, a British wand-maker, he will evaluate your wands."

"Mr. Krum, if you would be so kind," The older man asked. Viktor got up, conserving his brooding expression and handed the man his wand. "Ah yes, a wand from Gregorovitch is it not?" the Seeker nodded quietly.

"Hornbeam, dragon heartstring, ten-and-a-half inches, and quite rigid but not unusual, good for defensive curses" The wand-maker explained with a warm smile. Krum nodded, retrieved his wand without a word and walked nearby to where the journalist was currently standing.

"Miss Desjardins?" Catherine walked up to the man, flipping her dark-blond hair to the side and adding a little more hip swing that necessary. She handed him her wand.

"Ah yes," saying these two words seemed to be a habit to the old fellow, "Twelve inches, Ivy and a unicorn tail hair as a core, rather springy… One of my finest works," Ollivander exclaimed proudly, "Good for healing spells and glamour charms" He completed.

Feeling a hint embarrassed by her wand's area of expertise, she avoided the gazes from her fellow champions, grabbed her wand and quickly went to stand next to Krum.

"Mr. Potter?" Harry walked up confidently, he knew what his wand was made of, but Ollivander had not made it for him, he had it crafted for him personally, calling in a debt that was owed to him by a certain godfather. He handed the man his wand and a desperate feeling to recuperate it tried to make him take it back, but he held on.

"Ah yes," Most people were getting annoyed at the man's favorite two words, "Eleven inches, quite whippy, Elder wood and… Well, this is quite surprising" He said and studied the wand further.

"Anything illegal?" The blond journalist asked hungrily.

"Of course not Rita, now sit down," He said, quieting the woman down for a moment, "This wand has two cores, a Heartstring from a particularly fierce Hungarian Horntail and hair from the last battle unicorn" He said excitedly.

"What in seven hells is a battle unicorn?" Rita Skeeter asked, scribbling a few things down.

"Care to explain Harry?" Ollivander asked, thinking that the young man had the right to explain for himself.

"Of course," He started and thought about it for a few seconds, as a thinking expression made its way on his face, "A battle unicorn was a dark-colored unicorn used by ancient sorcerers to ride into battle. They were far stronger and endured a lot more pain than the typical unicorn. Aleksandra Wrothbard actually bonded with one before she destroyed the dark wizards of old. The hair in my wand comes from her battle unicorn." He explained solemnly.

Most people either gasped or stared at him wide-eyed. If the fact that he had two cores wasn't enough, than he could say it was from a battle unicorn, and if it still wasn't enough, he could add that it was Aleksandra Wrothbard's own unicorn. No one knew that her battle unicorn had given a hair, but it appeared true now that Harry told them.

"The public will love to hear that their hero is even more special!" Rita Skeeter exclaimed happily, writing down a few more short notes eagerly. Harry reclaimed his wand and walked over to Catherine who stared at him in awe, making him grunt in annoyance.

"Miss Delacour?" Fleur rose from her seat and swiftly handed the old wand-maker her wand "Ah yes," She heard Ludo Bagman suppress a curse, "Rosewood and a veela hair core," He stated interestingly, "I normally do not use veela hair as they make for temperate wands, meaning that you should not excel in anything, nor should you be bad at anything." He paused for a moment, analysing the wand carefully.

As if she knew what he was going to ask, she answered for him "It was my gran-muzzer's". The man nodded in understanding and returned her wand. She took it, thankful to have it by her side once more and walked over to stand beside Harry who gave her a superstar smile, making her insides melt as she once again asked herself _Who's the veela around here?!_

"A few pictures, champions?" The journalist asked which led to them squeezing together, much to Fleur delight.

XXX

"Really Harry? Front page? Again?" Roger Davies asked mockingly. They were sitting in the dining hall, a few hours after the Weighing of the Wands. Most students had already left towards their dorms, but Harry and his friends remained at their table, enjoying a quiet evening.

Harry shrugged; it seemed that most people believed that he would make the front page in tomorrow's edition of the Daily Prophet, which was still delivered even if they were in France. Honestly, Harry couldn't say that he was at all interested in any of the attention, he had suffered a lot of loneliness in his life, mostly due to his brother hogging all the attention from his parents and he had expected it would be so his whole life, it was still new to him, the whole Quidditch star story and all.

"Yeah, sadly" He answered, smirking at his friend.

"Harry," He looked to his right and immediately caught a sight of dark-blond hair and brown eyes. He groaned mentally at an approaching Catherine Desjardins, she had been pestering him about the Yule Ball for days now, and he wasn't particularly in the mood to talk about such an event at the moment.

She sat next to him and stared into his green eyes apprehensively "You know, the first task it's…" Harry didn't need her to tell him, he had figured it out weeks ago while studying the school grounds from his broom. Catherine did seem a little nervous at the idea of facing a dragon but he certainly was not.

"Dragons." He stated calmly, alarming his fellow champion.

"So…You're not stressed out or anything?" She asked wide-eyed.

"Ickle Harrikens is more than capable of taking care of himself" Roger said seriously. After a while a wide grin appeared on his face, "Me, on the other hand…"

"Shut up Davies." Catherine said loudly while twirling a curl of her dark-blond hair with a finger, making him snort amusingly.

"Hard-to-get…I like it!" He yelled, making his friends burst out in laughter.

"I just don't get how you can be so calm about it Harry." the Desjardins heiress asked nervously, after succeeding in quieting down the loud laughing that had erupted to Roger's comment.

"Trade secret"

A/N: Kind of short, I know. It fills in some missing plot pieces for me so you'll just have to enjoy it until I post chapter 5 eh? It's finished anyways, I'm going to start writing chapter 6 soon, but I took a short break. Do drop by my profile and vote for the Quidditch team you want Harry to join! Next, I realise some of you think this is another Harry-is-neglected story. Rest assured, it is not. The reasons and conditions of his neglect are completely different and will surprise you.

Until next time,

GoldenShade


	5. Sponsors

A/N: I'm sooo sorry for taking so long to update, I've been terribly busy with school as this year's grades are quite important compared to the previous ones. I've also joined the Handball AND the cross-country team, which basically took away Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from my writing time… Kind of a stupid idea I know, but hey I love both sports and I couldn't decide D: Anyways, this chapter is quite uneventful yet again but have no fear; next chapter will be filled with action/drama! (Likely pretty long also)

Chapter 5: The Sponsor

"Harry look!" Roger yelled after unwrapping a letter from a grey owl's ankle. They were sitting at the dining hall in the Wrothbard table. The eldest Potter was sitting in front of Roger and to the left of Cedric while Catherine occupied his left. It was lunch and all of them had spent most of the morning attending classes, with the exception of Harry who had worked out a little. Being a professional player, he needed to keep shape if he was to stay competitive.

"What?" The young star answered, giving him a questioning glare. When Roger simply kept staring at him, Harry snatched the letter from his hands and read it.

_Dear Mr. Potter_

_In the name of Quidditch Wares Incorporated I would like to extend an invitation to our sponsorship program. We have watched and appreciated you playing in the English team during the World Cup, we think you would benefit from our program as well as we would benefit from having you with us. Evidently, we would supply you with any Quidditch equipment that you would need throughout the year, including the newest brooms should you desire it. We would be given the right to inscribe your name on model Quidditch robes and the like. You would be paid sixty percent of every sale of an object or clothing item that has your name on it. We would also supply a starting amount of two thousand galleons for your personal needs. Should you be interested, we have inserted a port-key in this envelope._

_In hopes of seeing you soon,_

_Mark Owen-Padilla_

_Marketing Manager, Quidditch Wares Incorporated_

Harry looked up from the letter wide-eyed, becoming as dazed as Roger as they kept staring at each other, oblivious to the questions of their friends. They finally pulled through when they were both slapped behind the head by an annoyed Cho Chang that had arrived in the nick of time. They shook their heads for a few minutes and then looked back at each other and started laughing; only adding onto the confusion of the others. The death glare from the Asian girl shut them up nicely.

"Great deal ain't it Roger?" Harry said through a widening grin.

"Hell yes! Better than great! They have thousands of models all over the world! Plus they're paying you!" He exclaimed and rubbed his hands together greedily.

"Honestly? I'm going to have my name on every shelf of their stores and all you can think of is the women?" He asked, slightly amused at his friend's reaction.

"Yup." Roger said shamelessly, retracting to his mind and imagining all the girls that this deal would make them encounter.

"I take it it's a sponsorship deal?" Cedric asked with an eyebrow raised.

"Yeah, and a pretty good one at that. I get my name on model Quidditch robes, brooms and the like while they supply me with all the equipment I need for the year, pay me two thousand galleons in advance, plus I get sixty percent of everything they sell with my name on it!" He announced, making Cedric's mouth drop in surprise and Catherine's eyes narrow at the mention of the sum he would be making.

"Are you accepting, Harry?" The brown-eyed champion asked, while batting her eyelashes in an obvious attempt at flirting with the now-rich man.

"Of course I am, if I'm going to compete in the European Cup I'll need a reliable sponsor" Harry said wisely. The costs of establishing himself in another city would be high, especially if he had to buy new equipment to match the team's, but with Quidditch Wares as a sponsor, he wouldn't need to do any of those things, they would take care of it all.

"Speaking of, what team are you thinking about joining?" Roger asked, finally snapping out of his dreamy state and looking around confusingly, wondering if he had missed anything worth talking about.

"I did not receive an official offer yet, but I have a feeling it'll have to wait until Christmas" Harry stated. There was often a Christmas Party in Paris, where most of the important figures of Europe would gather. This included respected Quidditch players, team managers, ministry workers and the like. The ones who would be doing the offering are the team managers, they'd offer him a contract and he would need to examine it. Perhaps Harry would receive multiple offers; in this case he would go home and compare each of them carefully.

"I hope you join the Vratsa Vultures" Roger said, interrupting Harry's train of thoughts. The Vultures were a much respected team from Bulgaria. They gave new players the chance to prove themselves, which was a nice advantage to have. Seriously speaking, they were amongst the top teams in the world, perhaps only second to the Moosejaw Meteorites.

"I think we all know why you want him to sign for the Vultures, perv" Chang stated mockingly, making her victim scowl, than return with an accepting smile, which showed a hint of mischievousness.

"Okay, okay, it's for the Veela cheerleaders, I'll admit it, I'm ashamed" he said, making a show of lowering his head in shame, which only caused the boys to laugh harder.

"Shut it, we all know you're not ashamed of anything" Harry exclaimed playfully through the laughs that were still troubling him and Cedric.

"Yeah Roger, you love talking about women, imagine seeing a real Veela!" Cedric added.

"I already have, Fleur Delacour remember?" Roger said with a mocking grin towards Harry's scowling face. He had developed a very protective attitude when it came to Fleur. He did not know why, or how, but he just felt that it was the right thing to do. She had suffered a lot in her life, if he could limit it while he was here, then so be it.

"Too bad you can't talk to her though" Cedric announced towards his playboy of a friend.

"Why not?" Roger answered, genuinely confused. Harry and Cedric both slapped their foreheads with their palms and laughed, refusing to answer such a dumb question.

"The allure, Roger, the allure" Cho affirmed, repeating her words in an attempt to ridicule him.

"Oh right" He answered, using his trademark reply.

"While we're at it, any other teams you guys would like me to join?" Harry asked with icy humour, smiling sarcastically.

"I think Puddlemere United would be a wise choice Harry" Cho claimed, they all knew that she had been a fan of theirs for a while now, "Good money, close to home, great team, good chance of winning the cup… Come on, you know you want to!" She finished with a wide expectant smile.

Harry just thought for a moment. The point of playing for a European Cup contender was not to be close to home, but to win. Relatively, he did not care to be in England, France or anywhere else for that matter. He needed a team with a different playing style; the English method was a mix of power and accuracy. If he was going to truly win every game of his career, he needed to know every style and how to counter it, or use it to his advantage.

"What about the Quiberon Quafflepunchers?" Catherine asked. Being from France, there was little doubt that she wanted Harry to win them the cup after years of fruitless efforts, "It's close to where I live and the team dresses in pink robes, can it get any better?" The Quidditch star knew perfectly how it could get better, not having pink robes. They made you stand out too much in crowds, and even on the field. Besides, the Quafflepunchers had a history of being very flashy and crowd-oriented, something that Harry was utterly uninterested in.

"I'll see you guys later, I need to go have a talk with Viktor" Harry announced while getting up and walking towards the gateway, knowing all too well where he would find the Bulgarian chaser.

The sun was partially blocked by thick white clouds, yet the rest of the sky seemed quite clear. The Quidditch pitch was in good shape as Harry walked through it, spotting Viktor on the outer edge, polishing his broom handle.

"Viktor." Harry said simply and settled on the ground next to his fellow star.

"Harry, to vhat do I ove the visit?" He answered neutrally, keeping his usual brooding expression on his face.

"Have you joined a European Cup contender yet?" He asked while scanning the ground.

"Not yet, the signing needs to vait until after Christmas, but I hope to be hired by the Vratsa Vultures." Krum lived in Bulgaria, and Harry respected his decision to play somewhere close to home. The Vultures with Krum as their seeker, he didn't know if a team could get any better. He would need to be at the top of his game whenever he was to face off against this vicious side. "Vhat about you?"

"I'm not sure yet, perhaps Puddlemere, Falmouth, Vratsa, too many choices really" Harry said with a sigh, letting out his frustration with the decision making.

"Vhen you are a Quidditch player of our caliber, you can get in any team you want" Krum started and then proceeded with an annoyed tone, "Annoying isn't it?"

"Got that right"

XXX

"You guys ready yet? I was hoping to get there today." Harry retorted as his friends scrambled to find their finest clothes. They were to pose as Harry's managers on their quick trip to visit his new sponsors. He had informed his Headmaster of his departure, extracting loud protests from the older man but Harry chose to ignore it. They were soon ready and left towards the entrance to the drill where they would meet Catherine Desjardins who had insisted on coming. At first, they had denied her, but Roger had vouched for her, obviously trying to flirt with her still.

Roger and Cedric wore clean, proper outfits while Harry and Catherine dressed casually, the former wearing his usual black leather jacket over a white t-shirt "Let's go! Money here we come!" Roger yelled at the top of his lungs as he reached his friends whom were holding the Port-key. They all yelled in unison "Activate!" and were transported to a far-away location.

They landed on their feet, mostly. Roger fell over and ended up kissing the boot of the man in front of him. He had dark skin and compassionate-looking brown eyes. He merely smiled at the boy at his feet and offered him his hand. The Ravenclaw gracefully took it and lifted himself up. Only then did the quartet realise what was around them.

Multiple green screens were spread out in the room as bright spotlights lit them up. Models were walking around in a busy fashion, some heading for photo-shoots, others to meetings and some for talk shows. None of them had ever seen a studio of this size before, it was truly an amazing sight to behold. When Harry was spotted by a girl, it didn't take long before he was swarmed by a wave of models trying to get a hold of him. Roger and Cedric fought desperately and tried to keep them away from their friend; Catherine even jumped in and tried discouraging the girls from approaching her crush. Most of them seemed unfazed and pressed on with their assault.

Only when the mystery man shouted an order did they return to their occupations "Enough, girls!" He yelled clearly. He approached the exhausted quartet and apologized politely, "My name is Mark Owen-Padilla, welcome to our studios and Headquarters Mr Potter" He welcomed kindly, smiling.

"Quite impressive" Harry said, looking around and becoming all-the-more impressed.

The man smiled and looked over to his friends "I assume these are your friends?" Mark said, pointing at the still panting men.

Harry nodded, "Miss Desjardins here is a friend, these two dimwits are my managers" he said, making a show of being disappointed and pointing towards the panting young men. They both looked up and glared at him angrily, "And friends" He quickly added, mentally amused at his friend's reactions. Roger and Cedric laughed quietly, sharing a look that seemed to mean We'll-Kick-His-Butt-When-We-Get-Back. Harry was suddenly nervous after seeing this menacing look, but pushed it in the back of his mind and kept the conversation going.

"You are here for the sponsorship, correct?" Mark Padilla asked questioningly, yet knowing the answer already. Harry nodded and followed the man to his office, his friends hot on his heels.

He had a nice, grey office with a window overlooking the city. He sat behind his desk quietly and waited for his guests to take their seats in chairs that he had just conjured, "Did the terms in the letter seem appropriate to you?" He asked once they settled down.

"They seemed more than adequate" Harry said enthusiastically, sending looks towards Roger and Cedric whom grinned widely.

"Great! Now let me show you some prototypes of the merchandise we would be selling" He said and with a flick of his wand, brought a large trunk from the nearby closet to the side of his desk. He opened it and pulled out a smaller trunk. After opening this one, he crooked it as to expose what was in it, "The Harry Potter Quidditch Starter Set!" He announced happily, smiling at their reactions. The golden snitch was unchanged, but the Bludgers and the Quaffle which were inside the trunk had golden writing on them, ""United." –Harry Potter" was written clearly. He laughed at the idea of being quoted and so did his friends.

It was a great product thought and Harry was more than happy to lend his name for it. He quickly shifted in his seat as to see what else was hiding in the larger mystery trunk. He grinned towards his friends, meeting their gazes with his piercing green eyes. Mark noticed this sudden curiosity and closed the smaller chest. He reached down to pull something out of the larger one.

XXX

The silvery veela was sitting in her usual spot besides the lake. Gentle waves were hitting the sandy banks, bringing that calming sound that she heard almost every day. The sun shined brightly while starting to lower, bringing a nice shimmer from the water and warming her body. Her thoughts were elsewhere though. Why was she entered in the Tri-Wizard Tournament? Who would do such a thing? She had pondered on these questions for a while and her mind was demanding her taking a break. She had then started thinking about her lack of friends and how a green-eyed man was so willingly giving her just that. She would still see Maryse and Clémence, but in public she would try and stay away from them, being with the Ice Queen was never a good asset to reputation.

The twins had begun sending harsh rumours through the rumour mill, pretending that she was seducing the famed Harry Potter with her allure and that it was an unnatural form of love. This only brought further hate towards her, much to her demise. Then there was another question, why was Harry so kind to her? Most students in Beauxbatons, if they saw a person getting bullied or beaten would simply walk by and hope it wasn't them next time. Harry had done a lot more; he had actually attacked her assaulters. Of course, this could be due to the fact that the offender was his brother, but she had a feeling that it was something else. Something from his past that he refused to talk about.

She would need to find out, and if possible, help him. Whatever the secret information was, it seemed to be causing a lot of pain. He might not show it, but she could detect his unease. She knew that he had not had the perfect childhood that people thought he had. He never talked about his personal life in interviews, it had to mean something. Detective Fleur was on the case.

Next in her line of thoughts, was Aidan Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived. She wondered when he would stop trying; she was not interested at all by people who boasted in her presence. Had she heard Harry boast once about his multiple achievements since the schools got here? No. The big question was; how could two different beings have the same parents? Harry was kind, humble and honest while Aidan was mean, violent, arrogant and annoying.

As her train of thoughts continued, she heard some footsteps behind her. Knowing that nobody besides her and the Quidditch superstar came here, she knew who it was. Harry walked on and sat beside her, meeting her gaze with his piercing green eyes "Nervous?" He asked. Fleur immediately paled, she had tried to keep the tournament from her mind for as long as possible, but the task was tomorrow and she didn't know what it was!

"I wish we knew what the task was" She said slowly, letting her blond hair flow freely behind her. Her English had improved tremendously while the other schools were here.

"Dragons." Harry announced neutrally, had he known that Madame Maxime would not give her champions a little boost; he would have told Fleur sooner. Yet it seemed a bad idea as his Veela friend paled and turned white in fear.

She recovered slowly, her cheeks regaining their lost colour, "Do- Do the other champions know?" She asked in a whisper, her voice trembling.

"Mostly, yes, may I would suggest a sleeping charm?" Harry spotted a twinkle of fear in the beautiful flower's eyes. He knew for a fact that fifth years learned of this charm at Beauxbatons. Himself had learned most curses and charms with his tutor Severus Snape, the man who hated his father was also the one person that he fully trusted in this world, besides his friends of course. They had met after Harry's reappearance, when he had been invited to Hogwarts. He remembered Snape's stunned face when he burned down his own bed and chuckled.

The unnerved Veela eyed him furiously as he lifted his hands in defeat, "Sorry, I was thinking about the past" He said quietly, not many people knew anything about his background story, which was why he was considered such a mystery by the wizarding world. Fleur's face immediately softened at the mention of Harry's past. She was determined on knowing everything that he would let her hear upon. It would have to wait though as she doubted that Harry was ready to talk about anything meaningful with her.

"Where 'ave you been today?" She asked him, dismissing the thought of having to face a dragon on the morrow. Harry had been left around midday; rumour was that he was signing a contract for the Vratsa Vultures.

Obviously surprised at her ability to push her worries away, Harry explained, "Sponsorship deal" He looked away at the horizon, appreciating the moment. Fleur saw the disinterest this move stood for and hurriedly changed the subject.

"Oh, I 'ave your scarf! Thanks for lending it to me" She said, bringing out the red-and-gold scarf from her bag. Harry had given her this when she started shivering after being announced that she was a champion.

The Quidditch star looked down at the scarf before he lifted his gaze to meet hers, "Keep it, it might just come in handy" He offered.

Fleur barely stopped herself from hyperventilating, she had hoped to keep it, but she would never have thought that he would actually let her have it. He had worn this scarf during the World Cup qualifiers and it apparently meant a lot to him, which only increased Fleur's appreciation of the gesture. "Thank you," she blurted out quickly, then found the strength to pursue her statement, "It makes me feel safe, knowing that it belonged to you" As soon as those very words left the Veela's mouth, a very bright red flooded her cheeks as she blushed.

Harry chuckled quietly, she wouldn't simply _feel _safe, she would _be_ safe. If anyone dared to attack her while he wasn't in her presence, they would have a lot to answer to. This including a certain team of expertly trained and handsomely paid lawyers and a very mad Quidditch player.

"Why are you alone?" Harry asked with a raised eyebrow towards the lonely Veela, not knowing that this was a soft subject for the poor witch. Even though he was rarely alone due to his slightly unwanted fame, Harry liked the solitude of the lake, so he could relate to an extant how Fleur was always here.

She looked downwards in shame; she wouldn't usually act that way with anyone, not even with her family, what was wrong with her? The only people she had ever confided into were her mother, sister and Clémence. She had taken a liking to that lifestyle too, during her younger years, when students would be bullying her around simply because she was a Veela; she had no one to turn to. Due to this hard truth, she became the cold-acting student that we now know.

"Friends aren't easy to come by when you're a veela" Fleur said sadly, concentrating her gaze on the land, not wanting to meet the gaze of the young man next to her. She half-expected him to get up and leave now that he knew that she was utterly disliked in the school.

The man brought his closed fist to his torso "Well I'd be honoured to be considered one of yours" Harry said with a comprehending, kind smile. Fleur turned her gaze from the horizon to the man before her, trying to make sure that he wasn't joking. Many people had played her this way, pretending to like her then backstabbing her. It seemed that Harry was actually serious and meant only kindness.

She couldn't help it, her baby-blue eyes filled with tears of happiness as she was gathered in Harry's arms. Oh how she felt safe in those muscled arms, it didn't seem like there would ever be anywhere safer than where she was right now. As for the Quidditch star, he simply held her, whispering kind words of encouragement as to help her recover. He grabbed both her shoulders and gently pulled her away. Fleur complied with much reluctance, wanting to go back to the relaxing safety that was his arms.

"You're a kind, caring person Fleur, don't let anyone tell you otherwise" He said, his piercing eyes gazing directly into her own and making her blush slightly. Nobody had ever been this nice to her, it was so new to have someone other than her family to care for her that she nearly broke down again but was able to restrain herself.

"Thank you 'Arry, you 'ave no idea how much this means to me" She said, closing her eyes and enjoying the little safety she still felt from her shoulders being held by Harry. She also took the moment to gather her thoughts.

"Come on now, Viktor doesn't like waiting on me" He said with a nice smile as he helped lifting her up on her legs.

Fleur's thought gathering was interrupted once again. Harry wanted her to eat with him and his friends! Back in the days, and even a few times recently, she had been forced to wait for the meal to end in fear of being rejected once more. A few times, when she was too hungry, she had attended the feast with the students, but most of them stayed clear of her, leaving the area that she was sitting in. Now though, Harry Potter had just invited her to dine with Viktor Krum and his Hogwarts friends. If they were anything like Harry, than she had a potential to make numerous more friends in this situation, lessening the burden that she constantly bore.

She lunged at Harry, squeezing him tightly, letting him know just how much he meant to her. He gasped when she reached him but quickly realised what was going on and squeezed back comfortingly.

They soon reached the entrance of the dining hall. They looked at each other before entering, knowing perfectly what the reaction would be to them entering together once more. They pushed the huge gate open, bringing all the eyes towards them. The students seemed dumbstruck for a moment before the females sent spiteful, envious glares at Fleur while she walked with her knight towards the Wrothbard table, where Harry's friends were sitting.

XXX

Harry sat close to the edge of the table and gestured for her to sit next to him. He looked at his friends and noticed Roger and Cedric staring at her like gasping goldfish. He chuckled loudly and hit them both over the side of their heads, causing them to scowl at him. Realization soon came upon both of them as they sat back down.

Fleur giggled quietly and let Harry do the introductions "Fleur, this is Viktor, Roger, Cedric and Catherine, but I guess you two already know each other" He said with a kind smile towards her. She blushed slightly at Harry's smile before she realised who he had mentioned last. She looked on Harry's side and spotted the dark-blond girl smiling mischievously at her. She cursed mentally but tried keeping a straight face on the outside. Why did Catherine have to try and steal everything she had all the time?

Dismissing the negative thoughts, she nodded towards the three boys in acceptance before starting to pile up some food. "So Fleur, nervous about tomorrow?" Catherine asked with a haughty smirk, knowing perfectly how this would affect her. In reality, Fleur was terrified and didn't know how she would deal with the mighty creatures. On the outside however, she managed to maintain her calm demeanour and smiled warningly at her.

"I wish the fire would burn Catherine's clothes off." someone said in front. The person she quickly identified as Roger Davies. She laughed loudly, as did most people on the table. Some people just didn't know when to hold their tongues. This was one comment that she wished she had never heard as it brought images of a big green dragon scorching a champion to crisps. Harry nearly fell out of his chair and had to support himself using his two muscular arms.

"Oh shit did I say that out loud?" Roger exclaimed with a confused expression, obviously not knowing why his friends were laughing so much. Harry nodded while trying to recover from the high amount of laughter that had shaken him. Catherine scowled quietly at Roger for saving her prey, as he had saved Fleur from her.

The brown-haired boy that she recognized as Cedric Diggory spoke up after recovering the first, "Honestly Roger, you need to learn to hold your tongue!" He stated loudly, bringing more spasms of laughter from the poor souls that were close enough to have heard the entire conversation, including Harry who had just recently picked up his pieces.

"Sorry, but it would be nice if Mr. Dragon felt like burning your clothes off Catherine" Roger said with a playful smirk towards the young woman.

"Bugger off Davies" She said menacingly, which brought more laughter.

"Hey, lighten up Cath" Harry said with a smile after recovering, Fleur heart hardened a little at hearing him call her nemesis by a nickname. Feeling this, Catherine pushed her advantage.

"But Harry-poo, he wants me naked…" She said while looking downwards a little, bringing out her best puppy-dog eyes and looking straight at Harry. Most of the time, this look instantly charmed the wizards and made them want to do her bidding, but Harry proved her wrong once more as he simply glared back for a moment before a twinkle of fun was spotted in his green eyes.

"Harry-poo?" He exclaimed and started laughing once more.

"Sounds like Harrikens likes the nickname!" Cedric said loudly.

"I'd vould say he loves it" Viktor added in support to Cedric's last statement. He had been mostly quiet but figured now was as good a time than ever to join in.

Harry wiped some tears of laughter that had appeared near his eyes and settled down to eat a few bites before continuing on the more important subject, "Hopefully, I'll get the Horntail" He said bluntly. The Hungarian Horntail was known as one of the fiercest types of dragons. His friends, mostly the champions, looked at him in disbelief. Most were afraid to fight but one dragon, and he was hoping to fight the fiercest of them all.

"But Harry, Horntails are dangerous!" Fleur exclaimed loudly, and was supported by Catherine for once in her life. They shared a look that seemed to mean Don't-Get-Used-To-This. They each nodded their understanding and returned their attention to the crazy man before them.

"Better me than you" He said nobly. If he had learned something from his time in Hogwarts, it was chivalry, despite him being in Ravenclaw, his whole family was in Gryffindor. One could not completely erase his heritage. Both girls looked at him in disbelief, while the three males in front simply looked on in understanding. Among men, it would be a common thing to do, taking the hardest blow for a witch. Though they didn't really understand that as they started arguing with the poor wizard.

"Why? You don't think we can handle the beast?" Catherine asked, smirking as she played with a twirl of her dark blond hair.

"Why the hell did I say that?" Harry said pleadingly as he slammed his head on the table. Obviously annoyed at where this conversation was going, to which Fleur giggled.

"Because Harry, you're stupid" Cedric said with a loud laugh drawing many eyes toward them.

A/N: Filling in some blanks with this chapter. Have no fear, the dragons will be here next chapter, expect a lot of drama and action. Again, sorry for the big delay. Hopefully it won't happen again. The poll for which team harry should join is still up if you want to vote before I close it down. I appreciate suggestions!

Until next time,

GoldenShade


	6. Family and Dragons Part I

**A/N**: I have nothing to say except the other tasks will be abnormally different then canon. Sorry for lack of updates, life always catches up to me when I try writing series and all. Be sure to read the end author's note, as it is quite important. I wanted to upload this chapter early to show you guys that I haven't forgotten about you! Remember, **read the end A/N!** I only proofread this once, so forgive any mistakes.

I know some of you wanted to see more Aidan or Dumbledore confrontations with Harry, and trust me there will be quite a lot in the coming chapters!

_Chapter 6: Family and Dragons_

A wealthy-looking man with jet-black hair sat in his living room. Bright decorations hung from the walls while a bristling fire burned in the fireplace. The wizard inspected the green couch he was laying on before returning to his newspaper. The cover of the Daily Prophet was an intriguing sight at the least. A broad shouldered boy with hair similar to that of the present man was shaking hands with one of the wealthiest men in the country. He seemed happy to be there, wondering what it was about; James Potter read the big bold text.

_Harry Potter signs with Quidditch Wares Inc.!_

_By: Rita Skeeter_

_Our beloved Harry Potter has recently signed with the industrial giant Quidditch Wares Incorporated in a smashing deal. In return for the use of his name in certain of their products, (Which includes Quidditch robes, kits and general merchandise) Harry Potter is to receive two thousand galleons in advance, as well as sixty-percent of every item sold with his name on it. Naturally, the company also offers Mr Potter all the equipment that he would undoubtedly need during the year. This offer includes the new world-class broom called LightFirre, manufactured by the same organization that once sold the Firebolt to the international Quidditch teams. Everything considered, our favorite chaser has landed on a gold mine. We think it safe to expect great victories out of Mr. Potter during the upcoming European Cup, which leaves us with the question, who will he sign with?_

_Full article on page A-2._

The man put the paper down, he had worked tirelessly in his life to keep Rita Skeeter quiet about the condition of his family, only letting slip a few modified texts about his boy-wonder Aidan. Although now, it seemed that his eldest son had involuntarily attracted the journalist to him. What surprised James Potter was that the infamous journalist was not attempting to ruin his son's reputation, but strengthen it, something that he would never have dared to imagine even in his craziest dreams. The accomplished auror briefly wondered how he managed such a feat, but figured that he would be able to ask him in person soon enough.

"What's troubling you?" A soft voice spoke from his right. Lily walked in front of James who slowly lowered the paper in his hands. She wore grey sweat pants and a simple white top that hugged her curves perfectly. Her fiery red hair was wet so he assumed that she was coming out of the shower. Recently, he had kept his distances when it came to his wife, she did not seem to care that her eldest son had been neglected his whole life. He wondered where his caring wife had disappeared.

"Nothing much." He lied, but he did not want to start an argument with the mother of his children and her fiery temper. They had enough of those lately, mostly on if they would go to Beauxbatons to encourage their eldest or not. James was, of course, losing the argument despite his best efforts. He had concluded that he would go whether his wife would follow suit or not. Having his so-called love stand in front of him this way reminded him of the past, when he could still call his family a family.

In fact, things had changed drastically from the day when Harry was taken from them unexpectedly by a notorious group of criminals. Upon his return, Harry became quite cold towards every member of their family and never agreed to talk about his experiences to anyone at all, aside from his childhood friends who he trusted more than anyone else. He seemed so sad and lost, James desperately wanted to comfort him, but he always left to be on his own, likely reminiscing on how they abandoned him and thought him dead. This was in fact not an exaggeration.

This seemed to be what enraged Harry the most as when he returned, all he could see was them cherishing their boy wonder while barely speaking to him. Little did he know they were doing it for his own good.

XXX

* * *

She walked the magically lit hallways of the Beauxbatons Academy of Magic, gazing determinedly ahead. The girl felt that she needed to speak with her lord, or as she was meant to call him now, her liege. She passed a few boys that were out after curfew but paid no attention to it, instead keeping her mind focused on the task at hand. She pulled her dark blond hair in a ponytail as she proceeded to her destination.

Their plans had met an unsought complication; the boy's attachment to their target was becoming somewhat problematic. Initially, they had planned to use her voluntary isolation as an advantage, but now that this wizard was dragging her into the light, it made their job all the more difficult. The boy was powerful. Perhaps he did not know it yet, but he held both political and physical power, he was someone she and her liege did not need offending. She never wanted this. She wanted a normal life and yet she knew it was impossible, her and her family were too far into their own crimes. They were committed.

The girl nearly collided with the painting in front of her as she thought things over. The portrait contained a handsome and well-dressed politician from the eighteenth century called Hulios. He seemed distracted as he observed the passing scenery before he finally took notice of her. The man eyed her curiously as he whispered, "I did not expect to see you for another month".

The mysterious woman let out a sigh and simply stared at the handsome portrait. Being a few centuries old, the man would surely understand the purpose of her visit this night. The politician kept his gaze fixed for a long time until he finally nodded quietly before opening itself, revealing a circular, stone room which was magically lit with torches. There was a slight grim feeling to the room as the light shimmered on the tall walls, exposing a large round table with some water-like substance on it and a rather large chimney.

She made her way to the odd table and pressed her palm against the wavy, yet rigid substance that was on the surface. The girl closed her eyes tightly before asking in a clear tone, "I have need of you my liege and should you allow it, require consul".

A few seconds passed before a man with messy grey hair and wearing a light black suit appeared out of the substance. He eyed the girl quietly, who was starting to get worried at his lack of conversation and made the better of it. "My liege, I have questions that must be answered for me to complete my mission" She waited for him to react, but only barely perceived his subtle nod and took it as a hint to continue "The boy has become quite attached," she stressed the last word, "to the target".

The man tore his gaze away from her and adopted a passive, yet almost disappointed expression, "What are our words?"

She looked down; this had been his only answer to her inquiries for as long as she could remember "There is only power, and those too weak to use it.". The man nodded, keeping his silent façade going.

Feeling that she was being tested on whether or not she would deduce what he wanted her to, she tried the first thing that came to mind "I should take the target's place at the boy's side?" She asked questioningly, fearing the punishment she would receive if her deduction had been the wrong one. To her relief, the man's expression softened as he nodded once more. The connection was then cut off prematurely in the girl's opinion, but her liege was a busy man and she could not be angry with him.

"_Je t'aurai bientôt_" she whispered quietly as she turned on her heals and made her way towards the now-closed portrait.

XXX

* * *

Fleur Delacour flapped open the tent quietly and waited as her presence remained unknown to the gathered crowd inside. She saw Ludo Bagman, Barty Crouch, the champions, some reporters and photographers and obviously the teachers. They were to come here and await the start of the first task which would include dragons, that much was a given. She spotted Barty's eyes widen a little as they saw her; he walked calmly to her side.

"Miss Delacour! Glad that you would join us, please follow me." He said and stalked away towards where the other three champions were currently gathered.

She settled next to Harry who nodded at her and returned his attention to the small bag that Mr Crouch was bringing towards them. She could hear some growling and flapping coming from the bag and had an idea about what lurked inside. Barty peaked over the light rim of the bag and slammed it shut forcefully after a small jet of fire erupted, confirming Fleur's suspicions. The Englishman hurried to extinguish the fire that had spread to his moustache and quickly got it under control. He let out a long sigh and smiled at the four champions.

"Today champions, you each will be facing a different dragon. Before you ask, no, you will not be asked to slay it. You must only steal the golden egg from her without breaking any regular ones. This egg will contain a vital clue to the second task," he stopped, most likely expecting them to panic or gasp in surprise, but when every single one kept a straight face he was forced to continue, "You will pick one in this bag, the number the dragon bears will determine how early you will compete." He finished quite seriously.

Fleur clenched her teeth from stress and looked away, "Mr Potter, you first," She heard Crouch say quietly to the residential chaser. She turned back just in time to see Harry taking out a large orange dragon from the bag that had a big number one around its neck. Harry cursed under his breath quietly, so it went unnoticed for most of the people present, but Fleur caught it and smiled awkwardly.

"Ah! The Chinese Fireball! Quite fascinating species wouldn't you say so Mister Potter?" Barty said enthusiastically, bearing an overly-wide smile.

Harry shrugged and turned towards Krum who was reaching for the bag with a small smirk towards his fellow Quidditch player. He withdrew a small brown dragon with an odd snout carrying the number two around its neck "The Swedish Short-Snout, very protective beasts, those are" Barty exclaimed with less enthusiasm this time.

Krum looked disappointed, but returned to his brooding while Catherine reached into the bag herself. She removed a bright green dragon carrying the number three, "The Welsh Green! There is no hiding from this one." Crouch said while stroking his moustache in a thoughtful expression.

All eyes were now on Fleur, all three champions knew what dragon she was going to pick. They had all been advised that there was going to be a Hungarian Horntail in the mix, and it still had not come out. Fearing what was in the bag, she used a burst of courage and plunged her hand in it, but immediately retracting it as she hit a few spikes that threatened to pierce her hand if she did not do so. She went back in slowly and carefully brought out the dragon. Sure enough, it was the Horntail, in all its green and spiky glory. It held a big number four around its neck.

Fleur looked up and saw different glances from everyone, ranging from worried to oddly victorious. Harry of course seemed the most outraged by her pick, she could see it in his emerald eyes, it looked like he was ready to explode. She was not too worried like she had thought she would be, somewhere, deep inside, she had known that she would be facing the Horntail. Whoever had put her name in the cup would obviously not have stopped there.

"Ah! Last but certainly not least, the Hungarian Horntail! These are very dangerous creatures and should not be taken lightly." Barty said menacingly with a gaze towards Fleur. "Mr Potter, when you hear the cannon fire," there was a loud blasting noise heard in the background, Barty's face fell to a frown, "… You will enter the arena to face your dragon" he finished.

Harry mouthed a quick good luck to Fleur who returned it, exchanged nods with Catherine and Krum and walked out, flapping the tent entrance as he did so.

An awkward silence settled between the three champions as everyone in the tent left one by one. Catherine then left and sat on a faraway bench, leaving Fleur with the Quidditch star. He was simply looking at his shoes broodingly, his gaze determined and fixed.

"Think he'll make it?" Fleur asked. Krum broke his gaze away from the floor and stared directly into her bright blue eyes. Despite how worried she was, she couldn't help but find the situation ironic. Harry had spent the last few days talking about facing off against the Horntail himself to save her the burden. It seemed that fate had other plans for her as she ended up with it anyways.

Krum smirked, a move which surprised her a lot, considering that he was a good friend of Harry's and that he should be, in theory, worried about him. She frowned slightly to show her displeasure at his actions, "I don't think there is any reason to be worried" He said, his smirk widening substantially.

Of course Fleur knew that Harry was a master of wandless magic, he had proved that by blocking Dumbledore's stunner, which was no small feat at all. Her brain quickly thought about the one question that had been on her mind since the day she really met Harry by the lake. She didn't even think to restrain herself as she let it slip from her mouth, "How is he so powerful?" she asked Krum, only then realizing what she said and put a hand over her mouth.

"_Here we go folks! Today's first competitor is none other than Harry Potter, Captain of the English Quidditch Team! He will be facing off against our very own Chinese Fireball! Now you see…"_

Krum let the commentating pass before looking back at Fleur, "It is normal that you have many questions, but it is not for me to answer them. Should you desire answers, you vill need to take it up vith Harry himself."

Seeing an opportunity to know more, Fleur pressed on, "Is there anything you can tell me at all?" She asked.

Krum looked back towards Catherine and saw that she was busy talking with a reporter, so he leaned in closer to the veela and whispered, "Let's just say that he had no other alternative than to grow stronger." He ended the conversation at that as he left Fleur to ponder on his words.

"_Wow! What a move by Harry Potter!"_

She was distracted from the commentating and her own thoughts by the tent flapping open. She raised her eyes and spotted Clémence's head peeking into the champions' lair. When she finally set her eyes upon the youngest champion, she gestured for her to come closer. So Fleur approached quietly until she was barely a few feet from her.

"_Good luck Fleur! Show that Dragon who's boss!" _ Even if her luck did little to lighten the burden she bore, it made her smile that her friend had taken the time to visit her and wish it, "_Maryse sends her luck also!" _It made it all the better.

As fast as she had appeared, her long-time best friend was gone, likely going to the strands to watch the event. Fleur returned to her bench.

"_He did it! Potter's got the egg! Without a scratch! Flawless! That Fireball didn't stand a chance!" _

Fleur started paying more attention to the commentating and was relieved when she heard that Harry had won without a scratch, but she kept on listening for his score.

"_Let's see what our judges think! Four tens and one eight! Amazing score!"_

She let out a sigh of relief, or desperation, she didn't know, she was happy for Harry, but it would be nearly impossible to beat his score, she and the champions knew it as Krum cursed under his breath and Catherine's eyes widened. A loud canon sound was heard as it announced the start of the second champion's run.

Fleur mouthed a quick good luck towards Viktor who nodded back. He flapped the tent and looked on determinedly ahead, ready to face his dragon. Leaning back against the bench she had just sat on, she closed her eyes in a vain attempt at keeping a clear mind before her turn arrived.

"_Here comes our second champion! Give it up for Viktor Krum! He will be facing a fierce Swedish Short-Snout!"_

As she contemplated a less-then-appealing fate, Catherine sat next to her. The older champion didn't give her peer a look, instead staring ahead, deep in thought.

The pressure added onto the cold nature of her old rival became too much for Fleur, she decided to step over her pride and break the uncomfortable silence that had settled, "_Can I help you_?" She asked icily. She saw Catherine's eyes flicker towards her but paid it no mind as she waited for an answer.

Catherine twisted her head sideways and stared her down, still not ushering a single word. Fleur, despite her veela instincts that were telling her not to back down, felt a little intimidated by this piercing gaze and shifted uncomfortably in her seat. Her rival noticed this and grinned, before speaking in a hushed tone, "_You have something I want."_

"_Very nice conjunctivis curse! … Oh that's got to hurt! Hopefully he can finish fast enough!"_

Fleur blinked a few times to focus on the hidden meaning behind the young heiress' words. Catherine had always been jealous of her, so this wouldn't be anything new. Though the fact that she confronted her about it, was. This meant that whatever she wanted was new or recently acquired, but what? Her luck hadn't been the best since the start of the year so she couldn't see what object of value she could have procured herself. "_And what might that be?" _She asked.

Her grin simply grew wider as she mysteriously stated, "_You'll know soon enough"_ . Fleur took a deep breath to calm herself, exploding now would only confirm what she thought about her so she decided to utilize the calm approach.

"_He's almost got it! Ohh! That was so close!"_

"_And what might that be?" _She asked, trying to pierce through her assailant's eyes with her own.

"_You really have no clue at all. Poor Fleur, always left out" _Catherine exclaimed with a smug grin garnishing her beauty.

Fleur recognized this attempt at getting under her skin, but it still stung a little as she was actually left out this year, apart from her few friends, "_I don't know what I have that you could possibly want, but leave me alone now. Please." _ She added, now tired of fighting with her.

"_He's got his egg! Now he needs to get to the exit! Wait! The dragon's blocking the way!"_

Catherine's eyes seemed to light up in fury, "_Really? What about your looks? Your natural talent at politics?" _she said, spitting out every word with the hatred she felt for the young veela, "_When we were kids, I asked you to help me with my political studies, and what did you do? You told me to shove off and left me to rot_" she added for good measure.

Fleur's eyes widened considerably. As she was going to retort, her mouth closed abruptly while her features adopted a pensive expression. She realized that what Catherine was saying was actually the truth. She had been mean with her when they were young, and now that she thought about it, she had caused the bitter rivalry that surrounded the two.

"… _And he made it folks! Let's see what our judges think! Seven, six, eight, ten, seven! Total score of thirty-eight out of fifty! Not bad!"_

Fleur looked down in shame while Catherine walked up to the tent exit nervously. She tried to keep a clear mind and focus on positive thoughts, rather than the negative ones her childhood 'friend' had filled her head with. She revised her plan, first she was to run to cover and dodge the first jet of flames from the Horntail, then she was to morph a rock into a bird and have it distract the dragon. While it would be focused on her bird, she would cast a sleeping charm on it and reach the egg. It seemed easy enough to her, but she wasn't faced with a dragon yet, and she dreaded the upcoming task.

She was snapped out of her thoughts as the tent entrance flapped open to reveal a battered Harry Potter. His green eyes were sparkly as ever, but he was covered in scratches, bruises and bandages. She guessed that Ludo's assessment of him making it out flawlessly was an exaggeration. She felt a little pinch near her heart as she ached to be reassured of his state. He spotted her, walked her way and sat down next to her.

Controlling her emotions, she grinned at him. "You have a few scratches here and there" she said playfully, purposefully understating his condition. He simply grinned back, then dropped his head down and let out a painful sigh. "What are you doing here anyvays? Champions who completed their task are not supposed to visit the ones awaiting their turns" She added, winking at him lightly.

"Huh. I just walked in after the nurse let me out." She heard him groan out loudly, "Just wanted to wish you good luck for the task, not going to help you cheat or anything though, I've done enough of that" He finished, moving his head back and piercing her gaze with his own.

"_Please welcome Catherine Desjardins, our third champion and heir to the Desjardins family! She will be facing a Welsh Green, directly imported from Wales…" _

Despite her current situation, Fleur was rather touched by the gesture and smiled warmly at him, "Thank you 'Arry" she said gratefully as his eyes trailed down to her neck where was resting the Gryffindor scarf he had given her a while ago.

"You're wearing it" He said, stating the obvious yet the tone he used was full of appreciation. She nodded and raised another smile, waiting for him to expand, "If you're ever in trouble in there Fleur, send up red sparks and I'll be with you before you can realise it." He exclaimed protectively. She did feel safer now that she had a backdoor to fall back upon. If all else failed, she would send sparks.

"_That was a very nice dive! She will need to grab the egg soon if she wants to beat Viktor Krum!"_

"D'accord 'Arry, but me and Madame Maxime came up with a pretty good plan" She stated, and when he didn't react she added, "A good plan."

"_She's got it! If she gets to the exit fast enough, she might just beat Krum!"_

"Looks like your turn is coming up. Remember. Red sparks." He stated before giving her a charming wink which made her blush a little, but she quickly focused on the task at hand. She moved towards the tent exit while Harry remained in the bench they sat on previously.

"_And… Time! It's… a tie? Well for rapidity anyways, let's see what our judges think! Ten, eight, seven, five, seven! She's one point behind Krum! So close!"_

Fleur inwardly grinned when she heard Catherine's score, the girl definitely, like herself, had a knack for bad luck.

* * *

A/N: Again, sorry for the lack of updates. If you want to see how far along I am in the next chapter, you can always look on my profile, I keep status updates there. Also, I'm dying to hear from you guys, either suggestions or things you'd like to see. I'm especially interested in what you think the second task should be. I have a rough idea but I would feel better making something that's community-approved.

As for when the next chapter will be up, most likely in six or seven days, but you know how I am with deadlines… Should be okay though as I am into the story again.

Next, the half-cliffhanger, I didn't want to keep you guys waiting too long and the dragon fight would've taken at least 2K words, so I decided to post it now.

For those of you who are still waiting after my GoG fic, fear not as it is next on my list, the final chapter is approaching as well.


	7. Family and Dragons Part II

**A/N: **Got a few reviews talking about how unoriginal by story was. If this doesn't concern you, skip ahead to the chapter. Let me get this straight. My story. My plot. My rules. First rule. Bashing is not stupid. That's just your personal opinion, which you are allowed to have, but not impose it upon other people. Now that that's settled, back to business. By the way, if you're one of the people that love Harry PoVs, I'm sorry to announce that there is only a small part of the chapter where it happens. Rest assured, it will grow into more in the next chapters. PLEASE READ THE END A/N. IT CONTAINS IMPORTANT INFORMATION!

_Chapter Seven: Family and Dragons Part II_

_Italic without "" for thoughts_

_Italic with "" for French_

"_Right here folks, is the underdog, our youngest champion! Mademoiselle Fleur Delacour! Heiress to the Delacour Family! Don't want to piss her off boys; she's got one hell of a temper!"_

Fleur flapped the tent open and entered the vast arena to the annoyingly loud roar of the crowd. The first thing she noticed was how varied the terrain was, there was a desert, rocky and flat area, all of them providing benefits as well as disadvantages. She waited for her dragon to appear, half expecting it to fall out of the sky and eat her; she headed for the rocky section of the arena where she stood on one of the taller rocks. From there she saw the golden egg on the flat area.

_Where the hell is it?_ She didn't want to go get the egg, there was no way this would be this easy. Not only had she picked the fiercest dragon in the lot, but it was also a mother protecting her eggs. Quietly moving through the rocky terrain and arrived at its edge. Peaking above the rock she was hiding behind, she once again determined that the coast was clear. Yet her legs weren't moving, something in her guts was telling her to stay put.

_If I'm not careful I'll end up burned to crisps _she reasoned with herself. She decided to summon the bird that was part of her plan as bait to the dragon.

"_Accio rock!"_ She yelled as the rock flew to her hand swiftly. She then transformed it into a bright-red colored bird. This was sure to catch the dragon's eyes which focused mostly on colors. She made the bird dash towards the egg quickly.

Fleur heard a loud roar coming from behind her and dived behind another rock without thinking. That appeared to be the right choice as the jet of flames directed at her bird would have burned her to ashes. Loud gasps of fear could be heard from the crowd as the fire covered the area in which Fleur was standing a moment ago. She could feel the extreme heat even from behind her cooling charms and the ice cold rock, demonstrating just how powerful dragonfire was. Under normal conditions, it could pierce most wards and destroy many materials.

She remained still, panting heavily from the adrenaline rush that had filled her organism. Her blue eyes were wide in shock and fear but she quickly managed to compose herself and looked behind only to have the dragon shoot another jet of bright flames at her. The bird she had created was, by now, completely turned to ashes, leaving her as the sole target. She stood up quietly and cast a disillusionment charm on herself, she knew that this was a feeble attempt at escaping, but she guessed that since the dragon's eyes mostly focused on color, removing it from herself could help her. She took a wild gamble and dived to the nearest rock. She clenched her teeth in anticipation of the dragonfire, but it never came. Once she landed she peaked above the tip of the rock and smiled nervously.

She finally saw it. The green and spiky Hungarian Horntail, standing proudly over a large collection of rocks. She looked behind it to see a large mace-like tail swinging its heavy spikes all over the place. _Je ferais mieux de ne pas m'approcher de ses pointes (I should stay away from its spikes) _She thought obviously. She was right though, one hit of that tail could mean at least three weeks of nursery.

Seeing as things did not go as planned, improvisation was an imposed choice. _Think Fleur! Think! What would Harry do? … That's it! _She exclaimed in her mind as realisation finally dawned upon her. She raised her wand and quietly muttered "_Accio broom!"_ she waited for a while as the dragon vainly searched for its prey.

Then she spotted it, her own broom flying at top speeds towards her. She quickly casted another disillusionment charm on her broom to prevent the dragon from seeing it. It didn't seem to be enough though as she saw her opponent get up on its back legs and smash the broom away violently, knocking it farther towards the sandy terrain. The Horntail had felt a shift in the wind and sensed that the broom was coming. She cursed silently and muttered another summoning charm which brought her the flying stick.

It was pretty badly damaged and the speed could potentially be affected, she examined, but it would do the job. She mounted her broom and took off, releasing her disillusionment charm in the process. The spiky reptile roared loudly before trying to take off, only to be stopped by the chain around its neck when it reached considerable height.

Fleur circled the dragon, trying to get an appropriate angle for the sleeping charm she was preparing to cast. She had read that a dragon's weak spot was its eyes, meaning that, in theory, if she could hit one of them, it should fall asleep straight away. She was doubtful though, and the efficiency of her charm against a dragon had never been tested before. The ferocious beast was sending wave after wave of flames towards her, making it all the more difficult to aim properly.

She damned it all to hell and focused, releasing a precision strike that hit the dragon square in the eye. He roared once more and sent out a large jet of flames towards her, which she just barely managed to dodge.

_Merde! I just got it angry! _She cursed quietly. Her eyes then widened as she noticed that the Horntail was slightly off-balanced and had trouble moving around. She took it as a hint that it was getting sleepy. Anger flushed through her as she noticed that it was fighting to keep its eyes open.

"_Close your damn eyes!" _She yelled angrily as she cast an overcharged banishing charm at the dragon's eyelids, which immediately shut, submitting to the angry veela's temper.

Upon realising that her tactic was a success she moved down and landed in the flat surface, hurriedly grabbing the egg and starting her rush towards the exit, omitting to use her broom in her haste, as she knew she did not have much time. To get to the exit tent flap, she needed to run straight for quite a long distance and turn her back towards the dragon. She did not like doing so, but she mounted her broom for added security and started flying towards the exit.

"_And our youngest champion is doing pretty good after all!"_

She finally heard the commentating and realised that she had not been listening at all and had no idea how good she was doing in comparison to the other champions. From her perspective, it seemed like she took over an hour, but the commentating told her otherwise. She was almost there when she felt a searing pain around her neck.

She crashed a few meters away from the tent and ended up on the ground. She turned around to look at the dragon and saw its chain ripped to shreds and flames slowly fading away. _How am I not dead? Those flames were practically on me_ She gulped quietly, trying to get up and ignore the pain her body was in. The Hungarian Horntail was looking at her menacingly, as if she had something that belonged to it. She glanced at the egg in her arms and swallowed hard once more. Her eyes were wide in fear as she desperately tried to reach the exit. She managed to cross the line that defined the ending of the task, but the dragon moved faster than she thought possible and was soon standing over her. It inhaled and prepared itself to exhale the devastating fire.

Fleur's mind was rushing at great speeds, trying to find a way out of this situation. She could not think of anything that could possibly block the fire, her shield charm was still much too weak to have a hope against dragonfire. She observed terrified as the glowing orange ball in the back of the dragon's throat started to grow larger until she could practically touch it. She hurriedly cast some red sparks using her wand, hopping Harry would make it in time, but that was doubtful considering how much trouble she was in.

She shut her eyes tightly, apprehending the moment her life would be taken away. The young champion waited for a few seconds before she opened her eyes, mostly expecting some sort of afterlife heaven. What she saw however, was completely different. The dragonfire had been stopped by an unidentified source.

Looking towards the exit, she spotted a struggling Harry Potter; he was holding the dragonfire back with a peculiar type of shield, not the common protego. His eyes were narrowed in a fierce, concentrated gaze. She postponed the questions she had for later and moved to stand behind her friend who was still holding off the bristling flames. Sweat started dropping down his forehead as the effort required, combined with having faced a dragon of his own, slowly became overwhelming. She waited in front of the tent flap wand drawn, not wanting to abandon Harry to the dragon. Thinking quickly she determined that she better go get help and entered the tent.

Before she could say anything, a determined Albus Dumbledore accompanied by a dozen dragon handlers walked by her and entered the arena with amazing discipline. Fleur was frozen in shock for a few seconds, but wiggled her head and followed suit.

She entered quick enough to see the Hogwarts headmaster adding his own shield on top of Harry's, completely pushing back the ground that Harry had lost while facing off against the dragon alone. The handlers then proceeded to chain the beast down, hopefully permanently this time around.

Harry turned to look at her; she saw a glint of worry flash in his eyes before he gasped for breath loudly and dropped to his knee. Immediately, Fleur's heart pinched with worry as she rushed to his side. Dumbledore was also looking worriedly at his protégé's brother.

She got on her knees beside him and saw his eyes slowly losing focus as he clutched his heart in pain, "Stay with us 'Arry!" she yelled loudly before turning towards Dumbledore angrily, "Do something!" she yelled in exasperation.

The old headmaster stroked his beard slowly, then calmly informed her, "The nurse is just outside the tent, she will be entering… Now." He said, and right on time, the nurse showed up in the blue uniform of the Beauxbatons Academy of Magic. She simply looked at him in disbelief and casted a few diagnosis spells on him. She waved her wand and cast the levitation spell on the athlete, bringing him to the nurse tent without a word to Fleur or Dumbledore.

The young veela followed and remained by Harry's side, looking worriedly at him as they made their way to the tent.

XXX

They were now all in the small, improvised hospital wing. Everyone had approached Harry's bed, his family as well as Fleur's were present, all sitting in nearby chairs and anxiously waiting the nurse's verdict. She caught the older champion's eye and saw what she determined to be a glint of worry in his eyes. She had never seen it there; he was always in control, which is why the situation seemed abnormal.

She looked beside her as her father tapped her shoulder, Jacques had always been a caring father, even now he was willing to offer support to both her and Harry. She got up as he pulled her into a big hug, releasing all the tension that her mind had been building up, her father then muttered in her ear, "_By the way, your score was forty out of fifty. You're second to Harry" _He said as a small smile garnished his features.

The score was honestly the last thing she wanted to hear about in this situation, but she acknowledged the attempt her papa had made to lighten the mood and distract her.

She admired Harry for how calm he was, some members of his family were actually looking at him with what appeared to be some sort of disdain. Yet, he kept a straight face and awaited the nurse's diagnosis. Fleur approached the bed so she could converse with him and perhaps relieve him of some of the pressure she caused, "Thank you 'Arry" He looked at her and smiled, showing just how cool-headed he was at the moment.

"I couldn't let you down Fleur" He said with a weak grin that clearly indicated that he did not hold her responsible for what happened, despite the way she felt.

She saw his father approach the bed angrily from the other side, "You could've been killed Harry!" he exclaimed bitterly.

"Why would you care? As far as I know my death would simply allow you to make Aidan your heir" Harry responded harshly and lazily pointed towards his brother who was still trying to catch Fleur's eye. She was surprised when James looked down in shame and stopped talking; he had looked genuinely worried for his eldest son.

His mother stepped in, "You will not talk of Aidan this way!" she started, but both her and Harry knew that this wouldn't stop there, "You've been getting in his way ever since you got to Beauxbatons!" She practically yelled in anger. Meanwhile, Aidan was smiling devilishly towards both Fleur and Harry who were in the same general direction. His focus switched between both of them as his emotion seemed to switch from lust to loathing respectively.

Harry then did something that surprised her, he simply chuckled and smiled at his mother, "Charming as ever, aren't you Lily?" He stated, purposefully omitting to call her by a maternal title. Fleur pushed her questions to the back of her mind and turned to her family. They were all watching the exchange carefully, studying what may come out of it. That did not surprise her as both her parents were high-ranked politicians and careful of what they said.

Lily scowled at her eldest son before a look from her husband made her sit back down in her chair. The nurse then came back in. Everyone seemed to turn their attention towards her as she stood next to Harry's bed.

"You'll recover, though perhaps not fully" She said quickly in surprisingly fluent English.

"What do you mean by "not fully"?" Harry asked, still keeping a straight face despite the worry Fleur spotted in his eyes.

She scribbled on something on her notepad, "Well, your magical prowess, in theory, should not be as it once was. There is something obstructing your magical core from being at its full power." She announced much to the shock of everyone in the room.

_This is all my fault!_ Fleur told herself repeatedly as she buried her face in her hands, basking in the shame of knowing that if she had not sent those sparks up he wouldn't have had to help her out.

She heard more than she saw the tent flap open. Harry turned his attention towards the new arrival, "Severus, what do you make of this? What happened back there?" He asked quietly, yet seemingly happy to see whoever had just arrived. She could even detect some kind of relief coming from him.

"I am sure you are familiar with the _Priori Incantatem _phenomenon, Harry?" a man with long black hair said, eyeing his pupil with an unreadable expression. Fleur soon realised that this was Severus Snape, the only person Harry ever considered to be a father figure, his mentor and Hogwarts potions master. She had heard of this while eavesdropping on a conversation between Roger and Cedric. Severus gave a few disdainful looks towards James, but otherwise remained quiet.

Harry nodded approvingly, "But what does this have to do with my situation? A dragon does not have wand." He stated pensively, trying to make sense of Snape's words. Finally, being the bright student he was, he caught on, "Wait a minute… Are you saying…?" He trailed off.

"Indeed, the dragon you were shielding Miss Delacour from was the one who gave the heartstring for your wand core, or at least its offspring, producing an effect similar to that of Priori Incantatem" He said calmly, watching as the majority of the present crowd had trouble following what the two were saying as this was a complex piece of magic, "That being said, the dragonfire shield you conjured should not have drained you so. Thus it is my opinion that the cores of both you and the dragon had some sort of internal struggle, if you will."

Harry looked confused for a moment, "What do you mean sir? Surely that is not all that happened?" he asked.

The old potions master looked at his pupil approvingly, satisfied with his questions, "I believe this peculiar situation originally happened to Aleksandra Wrothbard when she was fifteen years of age, she named this phenomenon Priori Naturalis and wrote a coded manuscript on it. In this text, I managed to read a few disturbing facts" He finished, once again leaving the crowd to wonder what the hidden meaning behind his words were.

"Snape! Say it to him straight!" An impatient James Potter yelled. He was seemingly tired of seeing his eldest son looking to his old rival for advice when he was right next to them. Lily had developed a mild hatred for Severus over time as he constantly harassed Aidan in class, or so she was told.

"Rash as ever Potter." Was Snape's simple answer, "Do you expect him to learn anything if I do all the work for him?" He added logically, making James sit back down in frustration.

"I would assume some sort of backlash or malfunction to my magical core" Harry said wisely.

"You would be assuming correctly. You see, Priori Naturalis works, in some way, like the Patronus Charm. Some things worsen the effect, others relieve it. In this case, I believe your body's condition will greatly impact your magical power. " Snape said, but realized that most people present didn't understand so elaborated a little, "In other words, the more battered your body becomes, the stronger your core will grow, while at full healthy condition, your power should worsen. The key is to find the correct balance. Wrothbard herself grew immensely powerful using this effect, while others were ruined by it."

Snape waited a little as he let the information sink in to the minds of the crowd. Fleur herself was having trouble understanding, wasn't this a good thing? It would be much easier to win duels if he got stronger as his body got weaker, most would not expect that. Before she could continue her line of thoughts, Snape continued his own.

"However." He said, making a few people present groan in annoyance, there always has to be a down side. "This condition is a double-edged knife. It is as likely to benefit you as it is to hurt you. The more your body is in pain, the less coherent your thoughts get, the less spells you are able to cast and maintain, it requires terrific willpower. Also, this won't do you any good if you get dropped by the killing curse." He finally finished.

"Is there any way this can be cured?" Harry asked, not surprising anyone there.

"Wrothbard believed that there was a possible cure and that once used, would leave the wizard at the apex of power of Priori Naturalis, while removing the negative side effects. She never discovered what it is, but she had found a few leads." He stated, then pointed out the tent to Harry as Fleur could only guess that he wanted to meet him when back on the tunneller.

Fleur watched Harry's unreadable expression turn to a very passive one, he seemed to accept this condition. Yet appeared a little worried about what the future had in store for him.

Jacques Delacour spotted a look from his daughter and knew immediately to give them some privacy, he excused himself and his family and left. The Potters soon followed his example, though James appeared a little reluctant to leave his eldest with a veela. _Prejudiced british_ Fleur thought annoyingly.

Once they all left and Fleur was left with Harry, he let out a sad sigh "Well I sure did it this time, didn't I?" He said with a small grin appearing on the corner of his lips.

"'Arry? When I was running towards the exit…" She started but he cut her off, already knowing what she was going to say.

"The scarf I gave you, it was enchanted to block one harmful spell or charm for a limited period of time. Guess it worked against dragonfire. The pain was meant to alert you of incoming dangers" He said as a small smile appeared once again on his charming lips.

This information surprised Fleur to an extent, she knew there was more to the scarf that met the eye, but she had no idea how important it turned out to be. She adopted a saddened expression, much to Harry's worry, "What's wrong Fleur?" He asked.

"You went to such great lengths to protect me, and because of me your magical core might never be what it used to be" She added sadly, looking down in shame.

Harry brought her chin up with a finger and locked his gaze with hers, "Don't you think that, I'd do it all over again if I had to" He stated soothingly.

Now that everyone was gone, she could forget about her supposed icy character. She nuzzled into the hand that had now reached her cheek trying to reach a sentiment of security and calm, he responded by smiling lightly.

XXX

"_It was amazing Fleur!" _Clémence said loudly. Fleur and her two best friends were sitting in the dining hall, hurriedly talking about the task and how everyone completed it. Since most students were practically forced to yell in order to converse with their peers, they did not have to worry about being overheard.

She smiled in response to her friend's comment, "_How did Harry complete his run? Forty-eight points is quite a high score" _She asked. Most people, along with herself, were completely in shock and amazed at the amount. She had heard that the only reason he did not get a perfect score is that Karkaroff favorited Krum and was a biased judge.

"_Oh he unleashed this really complex piece of magic, I think even Dumbledore had trouble understanding what was going on!" _Maryse said excitedly, Clémence nodded her head vigorously to this statement.

"_Can you describe it?" _Fleur asked curiously, anything regarding the wizard could potentially lead to her understanding the man.

Clémence's eyes lit up as she started, "_Okay! First he summoned these crazy flames that surrounded him!_" She made non-sensical arm movements and tried imitating the sound that it did, "_Then there was this weird shield protecting him" _She said as a thoughtful expression appeared on her figure.

"_I saw that one; he used it to protect me from the dragonfire! The Hogwarts potions master called it a dragonfire shield" _Fleur exclaimed surprisingly. Purposefully stopping the talk there, even though she was incredibly amazed that Harry had simply walked in and taken the egg from under the dragon's nose.

"_Never heard of it, could it be a seventh year spell?"_ Maryse wondered, her eyes trailing upwards as she thought it over.

"_I doubt it, it didn't look like anything I've ever seen before" _Clémence answered, bringing Maryse out of her state of wonder.

"_Anyways, did you open your egg yet Fleur?" _She asked next, both wondering what the second task will be.

"_No, I've decided to open it this weekend, when I'll be free to think" _Fleur answered wisely. She would indeed have more time to think it through came the weekend. She expected a riddle of some sort.

They were all interrupted as Madame Maxime stood from her towering height and addressed the students. Silence had flooded the room once the headmistress had stood. Some students though were talking quietly, wondering what this announcement was about, "_My pupils, yesterday was a very interesting day, especially with the First Task coming to a close. Yet I have another surprise for you all." _Most students were now silent, awaiting the supposed surprise that they would be receiving.

"_It is tradition…" _Some groans were heard from the tables in the far side of the room, "_That the school hosting the Tri-Wizard Tournament also hosts the Yule Ball." _She waited as most girls in the room squealed happily while the boys groaned in silent discontentment, "_Yes, everyone above fourth year is required to attend, dress formally and bring a date. If however you are under fourth year but are invited by an older student, you may attend. There will be mandatory dance lesson the coming Sunday, keep an eye on notice boards and have a good night."_

XXX

"_So girls, who are you taking to the ball?" _Maryse asked once they were comfortably settled in their blue dorm. They were all working on something but had taken a small break to talk about the recent turn of events.

"_I'm not sure, guess I'll have to go hunting_" Clémence said playfully while licking her lips.

"_What about you Fleur?"_ They both asked in unison, knowing all too well what the answer would be.

"_Well…" _She stopped as paused when she saw them both grinning widely at her, but continued with a small smile, "_I'm kind of hoping Harry is going to ask me to go with him_" It was extremely frustrating for her Veela side to have to wait on a man, it was urging her to go after him. Yet her human side was reasoning that he might not want her back, and thus she decided to wait, pushing back her inheritance.

The girls squealed in happiness and rushed to Fleur, tackling her to her bed, "_We knew it!" _Maryse exclaimed happily, raising her fist in the air victoriously.

"_Knew what?" _Fleur asked confused, she hadn't been that obvious about it, had she?

"_That you and Harry had something special going!" _Clémence practically yelled, partially waking the sleeping girls in the dormitory.

The young veela blushed quietly and smiled, unable to speak a word. She was trying to deny them, but she could not bring herself to. Seeing this, the girls simply squealed louder, snapping Fleur out of her thinking, "_it's nothing of the sort_" she assured them vainly, they already knew what she thought.

XXX

"My liege, things did not go as planned" A cloaked man said as he adjusted his position over the glistening, rigid water before him to try and hide the dark-blonde haired girl next to him. Inside stood their leader, their king, their liege.

The man in the water took a deep breath, letting his servants bask in shame and fear before he spoke, "I am disappointed".

"It was the boy sire! He saved her!" the man exclaimed loudly, making the girl shoot him a threatening glare.

"Your unwavering loyalty has been a true gift to us. I hereby appoint you to the rank of Viscount" He simply stated towards the cloaked man who jumped in joy before turning towards the girl "Was it not your job to distract this young man from our target?" he asked with such a tone that shivers erupted through her body.

"It was." She answered quietly. She knew it was no use arguing with her liege; it would just get her in more trouble.

Seeing as he did not answer and simply kept staring at her while tapping his finger on his chair impatiently, she assumed he wanted an explanation. "He has gotten inexplicably close to the girl and went to great lengths to assure her safety. I need more time to remove his attraction to her and direct it towards myself." She reassured him.

The man nodded slowly, "I will not suffer from your failures again." He added threateningly.

"I understand my liege. I plan on inviting him to the Yule Ball, and if I were to be turned down, which I expect, I shall bring him to the High Nobility Ball at Christmas and then to my family's High Class Party and Ball on New Year's Eve." She explained, trying to reassure him that the target's protector would soon be eating out of her hand and under her influence.

"Yes… He will feel guilty if he turns you down and will graciously accompany you in the other balls… Liquor can make you do all sorts of things… Acceptable plan." He muttered quietly, barely allowing the girl and the cloaked man to hear anything he said.

The girl nodded, watching as her liege faded from view. When his image completely disappeared she turned towards the cloaked man and eyed him ferociously.

**A/N**: I am going to be changing Fleur's behaviour slowly but surely, this second place in the tournament first task is going to give her a considerable confidence boost as people will not look down at her anymore, but as an equal. Also, I'm going to be involving much more politics in this story as it is something that I like, despite hating all the politicians. Won't be anything that will throw you off, mostly just mild ranking during the future Christmas parties. Next, what do you think is going to be in the egg? Ask away, I'm not telling! Anyways, upload speed will likely slow down due to school starting, but I'm liking writing this story so chances are it won't be that bad, I'll try writing as much as possible on weekends, but on weekdays my writing time is limited to around one hour per night. Depending if I have sports. During the first week of school, chances are I won't stand a chance. Double handball on Tuesday and Thursday and double crosscountry on Wednesday and Friday.

Remember I'm always looking for more suggestions regarding the future of the story. If you have any, post it in a review or private message it. The poll on which team Harry should join for the European cup is still up.


	8. Winds of Winter

_Chapter Eight: Winds of Winter_

_Italic with "" for French_

_Italic without "" for thoughts_

The school grounds had received very light snow over the night. Seeing as snow was rare in this part of France, most students ran outside on the first occasion and started a rather huge snowball fight. Following the initial fun, the student body had heard that Harry Potter and Viktor Krum would be training on the Quidditch pitch along with the Wrothbard team. They had swiftly made their way to the stands as to catch a glimpse of the two growing stars. Most pupils had been disappointed at their lack of public appearance, mostly because they did not leave their school's transport very often.

The locker rooms had been renovated in the past month by the Beauxbatons staff, officially to make the teams more comfortable, but also as a discreet way of getting the temporarily residential professionals to talk well of them to the media. There was now a large lounging area, containing full fireplace and multiple comfortable couches. This was a common room, as the changing and showering took place in separate rooms which were separated by gender.

Here Fleur stood, watching the flames closely in her blue Quidditch uniform along with the scarf Harry had given her. He had explained that the enchantment that used to be present was now gone, and could not be used again. He had proposed to get rid of it, but she had concretely refused, instead answering that it made her feel safe. They had not approached the subject of the ball yet, nor had any of them opened their eggs. She suspected that they had determined to do so at a later date, not feeling like worrying about a task that would take place three months from now.

She spotted someone approaching from her right, but did not give it a look, trying to keep up the snobbish attitude. She had grown more confident since the first task, most students did not make fun of her anymore, instead encouraged her to triumph in the coming second task. She was now constantly pestered by immature boys, either younger or older, who simply wanted to bring the champion to the Yule Ball. She could see that they were practically drooling her way most of the time and refused.

She had not mustered the courage to ask Harry to the ball, which again was frustrating for her veela side. She held on to the hope that he would invite her, as she had heard that he did not have a date yet. The person finally reached her and sat on the couch, a few inches farther. She looked towards the girl only to see Angélica, her team captain, a very unfamiliar face as they had not talked since the arrival of the schools. Thinking that Fleur would steal all the guys, and being influenced by the Dufour twins, she had distanced herself from the young veela.

"_Hey…"_ The other girl started awkwardly. She was well aware of her disgraceful actions on Fleur's part at the start of the year, "_Listen… I'm sorry, I don't know why I pushed you away like I did. I was incredibly stupid to do so._" She finished with a tad more determination this time.

Fleur remembered how it was at the start of the year and saw how good of a friend Angélica had been before she fell to the twins' clutches. She usually would not excuse such behaviour so easily, but she herself had been manipulated by the twins to an extent, thus she knew how easy it was to be overwhelmed by their little game.

"_We're okay, Angélica._" She said simply, offering a smile, but not wanting to go too much into the details on how her loyalty faltered so quickly. She only wanted things to go back to normal now that the whole school finally accepted her. Befriending her captain was a difficult first step, but a necessary one nonetheless.

Her teammate smiled back, "_I'm glad, but I'll still try and make it up to you, I promise!"_ She promised loudly before heading back to the changing rooms. Their team did not really have to worry about changing in it, as they were all of the same gender, but they used the spare room anyway.

Having been ready for a while, she decided to leave the room and head outside. As soon as she crossed the doorframe, she was overwhelmed by a rare cold. She tightened the scarf around her neck and made to go to the pitch, holding her broom in a musket fashion. She turned when she heard someone step in the snow, only to see the one and only Harry Potter walking towards her.

"Ready?" He asked, watching her closely.

"Oh yes, I cannot wait to be ridiculed by a professional chaser in front of 'alf the school!" She said playfully, sporting a nice grin as she did so. She knew how false her words were, but he was about to train their chasers using professional drills, which would make it seem like they didn't know how to play properly.

He returned her grin before his sparkly green eyes looked up towards the pitch where a few students and Krum were already flying, "I won't play too hard, I'm just here to have fun" He said calmly.

Fleur then mounted her broom, looking back at him and muttered, "Shall we?" His only answer was to mount his own and take off before she could do anything more. She swiftly followed him as he called the team members for a meeting. Angélica was letting him run the practice, in the hopes that his coaching could improve her mediocre team for the remaining games of the inter-house cup. She had to admire his natural leadership, he had never met, let alone talked to any of the players, yet once called they all flew towards him without questioning anything. Usually, this kind of authority in Beauxbatons was difficult to acquire.

"Alright everyone, today, I'll be helping out your chasers and your keeper while Viktor," He pointed towards Krum who simply looked happy to be on a broom, "Will help your beaters coordinate with your seeker, any questions?" He finished, but no-one had any inquiries so he started the practice.

Harry moved close to the hoops and looked at the four girls he would be training today. One was Clémence, who was using this short pause to talk to Fleur about the ball. _Shit the ball!_ He mentally slapped himself, now was not the time to be thinking about the Yule Ball, he had a team to train. He also needed to give tips to Maryse and a female goalkeeper that gave him puppy eyes every time he looked at her. From what he had seen from the match he had attended a few months back, the chaser trio was not the problem, but the communication between the teammates. He quickly elaborated a drill in his mind before calling for silence and explaining it to the players.

"Okay troops," It was a name he used for teammates during the World Cup, "I want a two-on-one, Fleur and Maryse you start on offence" He called very seriously, but he did not explain to them that the key to succeeding in this drill was for the chaser on defense to communicate with the goaltender, so that they may track the location of both offensive chasers. He wanted to see how they would do.

He spotted a grin from Fleur as she tossed the ball to Maryse, who passed it back. The first rushed towards the defending chaser before dropping the ball behind Clémence only for it to be picked up by Maryse who easily scored.

Harry let out a sigh, _We've got a long way to go _He thought smugly, although Fleur's move was impressive, he wasn't sure it would have worked on a chaser outside this drill. She was good though, he had to give her that.

"Clémence you need to communicate with your keeper!" He yelled, so as to be heard over the loud roar of the crowd under him. He could tell most of them were jealous that he was training the Wrothbard team and not the other ones, but he paid it no mind.

On the other end of the pitch, he could see Krum giving them the Helsingr Drill, named in honor of Harry's old coach Davy Helsingr who won the cup with him, but then decided to retire saying he wanted to focus on his shipping business. It consisted of the seeker calling the beaters to hit dummies, but since they had none, Krum was racing Angélica and urging her to send the beaters to hit him, yet he dodged most bludgers.

Harry smiled quietly as Maryse scored once more, _We might yet make a team out of them _He thought, his smile widening. He always loved moments like these, where team unity was free to shine.

XXX

Fleur had a wide smile plastered on her face as she descended to the ground and dismounted from her broom. She had finally gotten the hang of it, and judging by her other teammate's reactions, they had too. She signaled for Clémence and Maryse to go to the locker room without her as she waited for Harry to descend to the ground. The later was chatting with Krum, both of them still floating. As soon as he spotted Fleur waiting for him he excused himself and made his way down, not wanting to keep his lady waiting.

"Hey…" He started, but was cut off by a chuckle that escaped him as Fleur quickly grabbed his hand and dragged him forcibly to the locker rooms. He quickly caught up with a jog and grinned at her, waiting for an answer.

She let get of his hand when she spotted him smiling at her, "… What? It is freezing!" She exclaimed over her scarf which covered her blush quite well.

"Uh-huh" He exclaimed sarcastically, still using that charming half-smile of his.

The duo made their way to the locker room which was now bustling with activity. Some players were lounging here and there while others were in the rooms changing. There was an additional team as they were scheduled to practice in the evening. She recognized them as the Scorpius students and immediately was on her guards as she knew that they had picked up Catherine as a spare for their team recently.

Harry sensed her tense demeanor and inquired, "What's wrong?" as soon as he spoke a few girls noticed him and started making their way to him. He swiftly regretted asking the question and looked at Fleur pleadingly. She smiled evilly for a few seconds before he felt her grab him and push him into an empty room, locking the door behind them. It was fairly nice, yet looked much the same as the previous room, red-colored decorations, a fireplace and a few couches. He gave his companion a questioning look.

"It's the all-girl lounging room, not sure why they built it as no-one ever uses it" She explained, and giggled quietly as she heard bangs on the door, obviously from the girls trying to get in. Harry had grown to like that laughter over the last few months, it even became a personal goal of his to try and make his friend laugh every now and then.

They heard some coughing coming from the shadows behind them. He dropped his wand from his holster on his wrist and pointed it fiercely at the intruder before Fleur could even make a move. He could not see who it was, but was soon brought back to reality as he felt a soft hand touch his arm. He looked to his side to see Fleur smiling warmly at him. The older wizard knew how much of an effort that must have been, as he was aware of the old rivalry between Fleur Delacour and…

"It's just me, relax" Catherine exclaimed worriedly as she walked out of the shadows, obviously impressed by his quick reaction time. He thought over the events of the last few days, Catherine had asked him to the ball, much to his demise. He had politely declined, stating that he was planning on asking someone soon. Roger had outright laughed when he had heard, but didn't mind too much to be second choice as she was going with him instead.

He thought he heard Fleur growl inwardly as she kept a hold on his arm even as he lowered it. This amused him to an extent as his mind determined that she was marking her territory. After all, Veela were known to be very protective, but he mostly put the blame on the close rivalry between the two rather than any emotional attachment she could have had to him.

"What do you want, Catherine?" Fleur spat out, clearly annoyed with her presence.

She merely gave her an amused glare before speaking, "I was told by my father that the judges will hold a special competition on the return from winter break" she said to both the other champions' surprise, "Apparently it will be beneficial to whoever wins." She added quietly, while fixing her glare on Harry's calculating one. Something wasn't right, why would she, a rival champion, warn him and Fleur about a competition that could benefit the winner? Knowing Catherine, he felt that she was more the type to keep every single advantage for her own.

"Why would you warn us about this Cath?" He asked, well aware of Fleur's approving glance towards him.

She adopted a very seductive grin and laid her hand on Harry's shoulder. The later didn't move away and simply kept his gaze steady, "Why, in the interest of… Fair competition, of course" She said before moving to the doorframe under both their puzzled looks. He did not know what it could be, on one hand, it could be a duelling competition or some sort of flying challenge, while on the other it could be as simple as a rock-paper-scissors game. He pushed the thoughts from his mind; he hadn't opened his egg yet so the event could wait.

He glanced at Fleur to see her cross her arms over her chest in anger, "Excuse me, but I need to go change" Catherine said, but paused a little before asking in a very husky tone, "Care to join me, Harry?" she added seductively. It caught him completely off guard, but he managed to keep a steady face, and even add a small grin to it. Catherine was upping her game, he realized. That would not do, he liked the girl well enough, but he had no romantic interest for her at the moment. Little did she know, he had invented the game.

He flashed his famous star smile, which made her falter a little "Suit yourself" she muttered. In recognition of her defeat, she nodded his way before unlocking the door and moving out, adding an extra sway to her hips as she did so. Fleur hurried to lock the door once more, stopping the fan girls from banging the door down in the process. He decided to go sit on one of the couches; it seemed appropriate considering how he just came out of a very cold and intense training session. Fleur felt much the same way as she sat down next to him and rested her head back.

He did not feel like talking about Catherine or what just happened, so he shut his mouth and felt content with the heat from the fire. Her words about an event had struck him though. He remembered the Yule Ball and his date, or lack thereof. At first he had thought about accepting Catherine's offer, but immediately shot down the idea, shivering at the thought. He had followed it up with the residential veela; she had certainly been his best friend since he had arrived at Beauxbatons. He looked towards Fleur and couldn't help but marvel at her beauty. He had seen a lot of models in his rather short Quidditch career, but never had he seen any that even came near Fleur's level of beauty. He shook his head, thinking that he was under the influence of her allure, but the same thoughts came back so he could only determine that they were natural.

He blinked and made a decision.

"Fleur?" He asked as she straightened, her beautiful blue eyes gazing at his. He couldn't help but take in every single detail about her, her long silvery hair fell down her back, the bristling fire only adding to the amazing effect it produced. He also noticed that her body had matured amazingly fast, she had gained rather amazing curves as opposed to when he met her a few months back, but he simply figured that it was a veela thing.

"Yes 'Arry?" She asked her voice full of emotion. Her heartbeat increased as she realized what was about to happen, even in her current tired state. Seeing as Harry was hardly ever nervous, there was only one thing he could want to ask her.

He shook his head once more, focusing on the task at hand, "Fleur Delacour, will you accompany me to the Yule Ball?" He asked formally, dearly hoping that she would not turn him down.

Fleur didn't know what to say, her heart pounded against her chest, her breath caught in her throat, she was speechless while her mouth gaped open. She closed it quickly, imagining Harry coming back on his decision. The veela was incredibly relieved, not to mention flattered, that he had finally asked her to accompany him. She would've had no-one else than the charming man in front of her. Since the start of the year, he had been her anchor to the world, her savior on more than one occasion, and the sole reason she was glad that the tournament occurred. She smiled warmly, visibly isolating his fears and appeasing his lightly nervous expression.

"Of course I will go to the ball with you, 'Arry!" She said excitedly as she wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly. It had been her objective all day; find a good moment to speak with Harry about going to the ball with him. Luckily for her, he had mustered the courage beforehand. Making the admiration she had for him grow all the more. Her veela side roared victoriously.

Harry smiled and hugged her back, obviously happy with the sudden turn of events. "I'm glad" was all he could say before Fleur pushed herself back but hung onto his shoulders.

"You do know 'ow to dance, right?" She asked, as if it even mattered. She knew that in the case of his ignorance, she would teach him personally so that he may still accompany her. She had waited too long for this moment.

"Of course I do" he answered back, grinning joyfully. He felt a nice sentiment of contentment overwhelm him as he settled back on the couch. Fleur did the same and rested her head on his shoulder comfortably.

"I 'ave actually been trying to ask you to accompany me for some time" She announced, too happy to censor anything that she said. She felt rather free now that this pressure was off her shoulders. Harry did not seem surprised that she had thought about it for some time, but she felt that he appreciated it nonetheless.

They continued to talk into the evening, explaining numerous things to each other about their pasts. Fleur learned a few unsurprising things about Harry, mostly that his present family mostly hated him, but that his father was making considerable efforts to apologize for his past mistakes. Likewise, he learned quite a few things about her, such as getting some information about her rivalry with Catherine. For starters, he learned that she had initiated it by being exaggeratedly mean to her, how she then matured and forgot about it while the older witch stubbornly refused to let go, even after Fleur tried to make amends when she was younger. He later inquired on Catherine's father, but she could not give him any straight answers.

Eventually, they heard the Scorpius team returning from their practice, thus they decided to exit quietly while the players were taking their showers. The walk back to Fleur's dormitory was comfortably kept silent, limiting to a few playful comments on how absurd his fan base was, while he returned it with how crazy her male fans were about her. Fleur couldn't help but agree, seeing as most boys they passed by were gaping openly at her, earning a dark glare from Harry which she noticed and appreciated greatly. She needed a man that could protect her from the pest that would like to do her harm. With him it was easy as one with bad intentions would be repulsed by his aura of authority, one that promised infinite misery should it be attacked.

When they arrived on the front of the large blue door, she turned towards him, flicking her silvery hair backwards as she did so. "Thank you 'Arry, I had a great time" She stated before looking up and placing a soft kiss on his cheek. She walked back to the dorm shyly, looking back once to see his expression.

Harry remained frozen in place for a few seconds, then brought a hand to his cheek and smiled fondly.

XXX

The following morning, Harry woke quickly, and seeing as his friends were still asleep in their own beds he had time to think on the events of the night before. _Why did I talk so freely? I usually never talk about myself _He thought, biting down on his lower lip as he did so. Fleur's involvement was already too deep; the option to push her away was long gone. He would talk with his friends today, try and reach some sort of general consensus, maybe to Snape as well, his advice was always helpful. He then thought on his recent condition _Priori Naturalis _he repeated it over and over in his head, yet he could not find anything in his vast knowledge that could help him.

Again, he decided that talking to Snape would be his best bet. His friends would not be up for at least another two hours. Therefore, he decided to get up and try to meet with his mentor who often woke early to walk around the lake while collecting potion ingredients.

He walked down the dark hallways, there was a grim atmosphere to the tunneller, he admitted to himself. The difference of color, used to accommodate the different houses, was a little disconcerting at times. Being a Ravenclaw himself, he did not give a look to what house a student was in, as long as they did not bother him, he would not bother them. He eventually reached the large steel door; he spoke the password and walked through the doorframe, whistling softly as he did.

The sun was slowly rising in the sky, yet was partially hidden by the surrounding hills at the moment. It did send a pleasant shimmer towards the lake, which made his job easier as he was able to spot his Potions master easily. The man was walking through particularly tall grass but his black figure stood out from his green entourage.

He approached quietly, but his mentor spotted him before he could try to pull any jokes. It had to be expected though, everything he knew… Well most of everything he knew had been taught to him by this man.

"To what do I owe the pleasure Harry?" Snape asked. Ever since they had met, never once had he heard his last name being used by this man. He figured it brought back too many bad memories of his father's bullying.

"Professor, you spoke of a cure for my condition a while back?" He asked straight, as he knew that his mentor hated when someone took his time to answer or to ask a question. He never pointed out that he did that often in fear of him cutting his apprenticeship.

"Ah I should have known that you would not simply want to chat" Severus answered as he sat down on a rock near the lake and motioned for Harry to join him, "I said that there was a possibility for a cure, as Wrothbard so brilliantly stated herself." He stated once settled down.

"Do you have any leads at all?" Harry asked, again being very straightforward with his questions.

"As you may know, her manuscript is heavily coded, I cannot begin to explain to you how hard it was to acquire it." Harry looked at him, hoping that he would continue and stop beating around the bush, he eventually did, "While I have found a lot that suggests the existence of a cure, I am yet to find anything that concretely mentions it" At the end of his tale, his pupil sighed in exasperation and wondered why nothing could ever be normal for him.

Severus smiled lightly and gave him a rough slap on the back, "Come on, it's time for a training session, we have not had one of those in ages!" He exclaimed happily as Harry grudgingly got to his feet, cursing merlin for making this happen.

They both spent the rest of the morning going over various spells and advantages that he could have during a duel. The hardest part was obviously adapting to his new condition as he could not cast as well as he used to if not hurt to some point. They mutually agreed that for his own good, they should test his magical capacities when under severe pain. Being a potions master, Snape did not have to worry about not being able to seal any of the large cuts that he inflicted upon Harry.

What they discovered did not surprise them very much, but it was still different than what they were accustomed to. At full physical strength, Severus could easily best Harry, but as he suffered more and more injuries, the mentor found himself hard-pressed to keep up with his student. The apprentice eventually found the apex of the balance between physical and magical power, easily overpowering Snape with his newfound capabilities.

For the good of science, they continued, making Harry more injured than he already was. They concluded that at the apex of the condition, which, in theory he would get to conserve without the currently necessary damage to his body if the cure was used, he was able to overpower practically anything that was thrown at him. Beyond that was another story entirely. His thoughts became clouded with the pain he was in, he could still cast as he was an incredibly strong-willed person, but not as efficiently as he could at the Power Apex. Yes, they had named the phenomenon.

At the end of their session, the sun was quite high, well at least to them. Harry deducted that his friends were probably already on their way to the dining hall in order to grab some breakfast. He decided to go and take a shower before joining them, but not before he was forcibly detained by Snape who healed his injuries swiftly.

XXX

Fleur woke to the piercing rays of the sun; she stretched and turned towards the room only to see her two best friends looking at her expectantly. She smiled discreetly as she realized what they wanted to talk about; the previous night with Harry looked almost like a proper date. Before she could get up, she was tackled to the bed by Maryse.

"_Sooo…_" She said as she straightened herself and sat on the bed, "_How'd it go_?" She asked with a knowing grin, the same one Clémence currently had.

The young veela simply grinned at them. She did not want to give out too much, but enough for them to know that she now had a date for the ball. The fact that it was Harry Potter was an added bonus. _An incredibly good bonus. _She thought. Knowing all too well that her friends would not let go until she explained everything that happened the night before, Fleur decided to narrate her time with her date, purposefully omitting to talk about Harry's past.

She eventually got to the point of him asking her to the Ball, _"… And then he asked me to go to the Yule Ball with him_" She told her friends who immediately squealed and made quite weird hand gestures at her. She guessed it was a consequence of the excitement.

When they estimated that Fleur had told them enough, they stepped out of the way and let her change so that they could go down and get some breakfast.

They walked down to the dining hall in their blue Beauxbatons robes, trying their hardest to dodge the weak-willed males that spotted Fleur and tried to approach her.

The trio had entered the central garden when a small red head that appeared to be in his fifth year at Hogwarts ran into them. He immediately started gaping at her; Fleur even spotted some drool on the side of his mouth. Really, this kind of boy was below her, weak-willed and un-caring. After a few seconds, she recognized him as one of Aidan Potter's Henchmen.

"_Isn't that one of Aidan's cronies?"_ She asked, surprised that she was the first one to notice this. After the harassment she suffered at their hands at the start of the year, she wasn't about to forget their faces. They had practically tried to rape her; if Harry had not arrived chances are she would be in therapy at the moment.

Maryse, despite being younger than the boy, approached him angrily and hit his arm rather hard, "Beat it!" She yelled fiercely. If the boy would not have been under Fleur's uncontrolled allure, he probably would have run for his life. Instead, he approached the veela and asked in a very shaky tone, "Will you go to the ball with me?" before quickly running off to the dining hall without a look back.

Fleur looked towards her two best friends, only to notice that they appeared as shocked as she was. They simply locked their gazes before all of them burst out laughing at once. They took a minute to compose themselves before finally entering the hall where they spotted Roger, Cedric and Krum eating at their very own Wrothbard table. Originally, she would have been hesitant to go sit with them without Harry being there, but the boost of confidence she had experienced when he had asked her to the ball was enough to convince her otherwise.

She sat next to Cedric as she knew Roger would stare at her if she sat on his side. The girls followed suit and shyly sat next to Krum on the opposing side of the table, "Greetings Fleur!" Roger yelled from over Cedric's head.

She saw Cedric reach back and hit the Ravenclaw behind the head, bringing a loud yell of pain from Roger. Most of them giggled as Cedric turned back and spoke, "He means 'Good morning, Fleur'" She had always considered Cedric to be one of the more mature boys of the lot, even if he did have his moments of immaturity when paired with Roger. She briefly wondered were his Asian girlfriend was but spotted her farther down the table, talking with her own friends. Her best guess was that she did not like Roger.

She smiled, "Good morning to you too" she stated simply before piling some food on her plate. She glanced over at her best friends and noticed sadly that they were already eating and looked much like Aidan Potter did when he was hungry, "Where is 'Arry?" She asked, she was a little worried, but she figured it was her veela side once more; they were incredibly protective of their mates and after the previous night, she considered Harry to be something similar.

"Uhh... He left us a note, something about potions" Roger answered while creating a mountain of bacon on his plate, much to Krum's amusement who tried to imitate him.

"That is good bacon!" The Quidditch player exclaimed in amusement as it kept reappearing in the middle of the table. She quietly pitied the poor soul that was tasked with making the bacon for the day. She had noticed that Krum was becoming less brooding and much more playful than he was at the start of the year. That was good news as the first Viktor was practically unapproachable.

Upon hearing Roger though, her worries dissipated, Harry was a master in mostly everything concerning magic, he would be fine. Feeling a little adventurous, she reached over and stole a strip of bacon from Roger. He immediately stood up and yelled angrily, "Hey! That's my bacon you evil bacon-stealing cucumber, you!" He quickly grabbed the missing bacon and put it back on the mountain. Cedric chuckled while Fleur burst with laughter at her new nickname.

As she tried to contain her laughter, she felt a rough touch on her shoulder. She turned to see Aidan Potter looking at her expectantly with his dark brown eyes. She briefly wondered what the boy could want, the last time she had been this close to him was when she had been violently assaulted. Once again, Harry had come to her rescue and saved the day. An insecure feeling settled in her as she remembered that her Knight was not present and could not save the day should she need it. A quick look to her side and she felt much safer as she spotted both Roger and Cedric clenching their teeth rather tightly, as to not attack the twerp.

She was about to tell him to leave and that she had no interest in talking to him, but he cut her off quickly, "Fleur, will you go to the Yule Ball with me?" he asked not as formally as his brother had. She had not given him the permission to call her Fleur and yet, he used her first name all the time. He was obviously not very well schooled. What astounded her most however was that he would dare to ask her to accompany him after everything that he had done. She was about to raise her wand and hex him but someone did so before her.

She recognized a stinging hex hitting the youngest Potter, he turned around beet red in anger, eyes narrowed and yelled, "Watch it, idiot! or I'll…" He then stopped and began shaking nervously. She wondered what it was all about so she looked past him only to spot a smiling Harry Potter.

"I believe that is my date you are trying to flirt with" He said simply, widening his smile as he approached his little brother. Fleur couldn't suppress a warm smile from appearing; Harry always arrived in the best moments, and always when she needed him.

Aidan cowered back as his brother advanced; he had wanted to look brave by asking Fleur out without his companions. Sadly for him, he was now defenseless. Having nothing to fall back upon, he ran the opposite way, stumbling a few times as he did. Harry sat next to his date and grinned when he spotted her admiring smile, "I 'ave to thank you, I would 'ave hexed him" Fleur said playfully, not that she would have minded hexing the annoying little boy.

Harry shrugged, "Honestly, hex him all you want my beautiful flower" he said while baring his most handsome smile. Fleur blushed quietly, but still bore the same admiring expression.

XXX

Fleur sat, alone in her room since a few minutes now. She was observing her egg carefully, marvelling at its golden surface and trying to find any hidden message. She was going to open it quickly, but rushing into it was obviously not the right course. Only after carefully analysing the exterior did she allow herself to start contemplating how to open it. Luckily for her, it wasn't all that complicated. There was a small switch on the top of the egg which, when turned, caused the four sides to slide down dramatically.

She curiously reached inside the golden glow that was emitting from the inside of the egg and pulled on a rather large object. What she found both surprised and disappointed her. In her lap laid another egg, only smaller and of a bright red color. This time however, there were no switches that allowed her to easily open it. The young veela found herself unable to open it, even resulting to cursing it with a few cutting curses. Finally, when her frustration became too much, she threw the egg against her dresser and moved to her bed.

Fleur decided that she would bring her egg to her home during the Christmas holidays and think about it some more. Following the same line of thought, she decided to write her parents and her little sister. The little devil would be entering Beauxbatons the next year and forced her to send letters monthly. She grabbed a piece of parchment and a pen; yes they used those high-tech muggle contraptions.

_Dear Papa,_

_I wanted to mention this as it is a source of great happiness for me at the moment. Please spare me Gabby, it just happened; I am going to the Yule Ball with Harry Potter! We were going to change after he trained our house's Quidditch team when we were forced to hide in an empty room to escape a rather crazy group of girls from Scorpius. A few moments later, I had a date for the ball! He is absolutely amazing, he is always there for me and would never let me come to harm. I hope that you will not take this the wrong way when I state that I would like for something more to come out of this relationship. You are probably already concocting a plan to scare him right about now. Before you do anything rash, I ask that we invite him for dinner on the 25__th__ so that you may at least begin to know him properly. Do not assume that you already do as your relationship with him is purely business. _

_Secondly, I would like to mention that Harry's brother, Aidan, has a less than adequate attitude towards me. I know that publicly attacking the Boy-Who-Lived and son of a Duke would be political suicide, but I ask that you have words with his parents at the very least. Should you need them, I can provide valid memories of his verbal and physical abuse. Fear not for Harry stopped him before it could get too serious. _

_Love, Fleur_

She looked over her letter a few times before estimating it proper and sending it off, borrowing her best friend's owl.

XXX

_A few days later…_

Lily Potter was a very smart woman. Not only was she a master in both charms and potions, she had a knack for political engaments. Over the years, she had tried tirelessly to secure marriage contracts for her son behind her husband's back. Under normal circumstances, such an action would have been condemned and considered borderline illegal. Knowing her husband and his submissive attitude, Lily had taken the liberty to steal a few Duchy of Potter seals. Whoever she was negotiating with would be led to believe that she was negotiating on Duke James Potter's behalf.

Her eldest son had always annoyed her, she felt as if he was trying to steal her youngest's glory. According to her, Aidan had earned and deserved his glory while Harry was simply harvesting the benefits of being the Boy-Who-Lived's brother. Recently, she had had a talk with her favorite baby boy.

What she had learned had shocked her in many ways. Apparently, Harry had been purposefully inflicting both physical and mental harm to Aidan. This angered her greatly and she decided to get somewhat of a vengeance on her eldest. The fiery red head had heard of his attachment to a certain Fleur Delacour, the daughter of a lowly Lord who had somehow elevated himself to a considerably high political position. Aidan had also mentionned an interest in this veela, it would please her to be able to marry them.

Here she sat, at the table of one of the most respected men in France, taking a sip of the tea that had been offered to her. Before the Duchess sat Lord and Lady Delaour, also with some tea. She had imposed herself in their home using her husband's influence.

"… Thus I ask that your daughter marry my son, Aidan once they both reach adulthood." Jacque's expression remained unreadable while Apolline's smile fell to a frown. She had heard Fleur's displeasure with the younger Potter boy through a letter addressed to her husband.

Seeing as they did not answer, Lily continued her reasoning, "Think about it. The Boy-Who-Lived as a son-in-law. This would greatly increase your chances of acquiring the title of Minister in your country, not to mention the alliance between our houses" Jacques had to give the woman some credit, she was truly a goddes when it came to persuading… Too bad he had three of those to care for, three who would literally hex the hell out of him should he accept this tempting offer.

He shared a look with his wife, knowing exactly what he needed to do. Offending or refusing a Duke was not the best way to go, but he would gladly let his career suffer to the profit of seeing his daughter happy and in love.

"I am deeply sorry Duchess Potter, but Fleur will settle with Harry or nothing at all." He said, maintaining a strong grip on the situation with his powerful tone. His wife squeezed the hand that she had been holding in appreciation. A veela who was in a loveless marriage was like a fish living out of the water, it could not be.

Lily seemed to take offence at seeing her youngest being dismissed so easily and watched them fiercely, "You will regret this, making an enemy out of the Duke is not a smart move" She announced, hoping that he would revise his decision under her threats. She was disappointed as he spoke in a calm fashion.

"Irrelevant. The happiness of my daughters outweight the needs of my political career." Lord Delacour stated firmly, clearly trying to end the conversation that was being extended out of proportions. He was rewarded by another firm squeeze from his lady.

Duchess Potter simply stood up proudly and left the manor, slamming the door a little harder than was necessary. Jacques looked towards his wife and smiled, "_Well that does rid us of any marriage possibility between Aidan and Fleur for the moment, but it also removes the chances of anything happening with Harry_" He said, both disheartened and happy with the current situation. His eldest daughter had manifested her desire to be in a relationship with Harry, a future Duke. He had hurriedly agreed to her proposition as it would greatly advance him politically.

"_Indeed, but with the High Nobility Ball approaching, there is a chance that we could talk to Duke Potter himself._" Apolline advised her husband wisely. It was indeed common for the Duke to come down from England for parties, but he was rarely seen at the negotiations table, unlike his irritating wife.

"_I don't think we've heard the last of Lily Potter though, she will most likely come back with something far more convincing in her arsenal_." He said worriedly, there were rumors regarding the Potters and the suspicious deaths conditions surrounding their adversaries.

His beautiful wife kissed him softly on the lips before whispering in his ear, "_We can cross that bridge when we get there_" The duo retired to their bedroom and spent the entire night in eachother's arms.

**A/N: **Am I moving too fast for your taste with the H/F ship? I personally want the first kiss to be before or during the winter break, haven't decided yet, but you guys send me your feedback so I can decide faster. Before you ask, Viktor will not be going to the ball with Hermione as she hardly plays a small role in my fanfiction. Although you will probably see some more surprising pairings, to say the least. Also, fear not for the answers to Harry's puzzling past approach! I just didn't want it to be revealed too soon, but I think I've delayed and teased long enough, I'm sure you'll be disappointed though.

Sadly, the upload speed will surely slowdown from this point on. School starts and as you can tell I am quite busy when school starts. I'll try writing as much as possible during the week and weekends, but I have a social life to tend to, despite me not liking it very much. I wish I could write all day every day.

Man, I totally lost count of how many words I had in this chapter, I usually try and keep it at 5K, this one was a little over the top. I think the start of the chapter is pretty solid, but the end is kind of shaky. I'm not going to re-write that, but I might polish it in the future. Thanks for reading!


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